“The hens of the plot,” the Transportation Security Administration posted this week on Instagram after someone at the agency put on their pants and called attention to the “waste of time” stuffing a bird with a gun. The passenger was headed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, according to Shari Kosetz, TSA spokesman for the Gulf region. Nestor Iglesias, a spokesman for Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the US Department of Homeland Security, said he could not provide additional details because it is an “ongoing criminal case that has been accepted for prosecution.” A record number of guns are arriving at TSA checkpoints in Florida in 2022. Passengers have brought more than 700 guns through airport checkpoints in the state so far this year — a year-to-date number that already exceeds any previous year, according to a TSA press release. Records have been set at 12 Florida airports, with Orlando (129 guns), Fort Lauderdale (120 guns) and Tampa (102 guns) leading the way. Almost all of the guns discovered at the checkpoints were loaded, the TSA said, and most had an ammunition chamber. “An accidental discharge could lead to tragedy,” TSA’s Koshetz said in a statement. “Each passenger is responsible for knowing exactly where their firearm is located before entering the security checkpoint.” For many passengers, carrying weapons into airports has resulted in arrests and notices to appear in court. Civil penalties from the TSA can reach $13,910 even if the passenger is not arrested, the TSA press release said. Firearms must be packed in checked baggage. The TSA outlines specific rules about guns and ammunition on its website.
