A record number of 67 firearms were discovered last week in carry-on bags at the nation's airports, including John Wayne Airport, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
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The previous one-week record, from 2013, was 65 firearms.
The 9mm found Sept. 12 at the Santa Ana airport was loaded but no round was chambered. Of the 67 firearms discovered nationwide, 56 were loaded and 26 had a round chambered, according to the TSA.
The agency reminds you can travel with firearms in checked baggage, although they must first be declared to the airline.
Possession laws vary by state and locality, and travelers are encouraged by the TSA to familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure. A passenger can face arrest and/or a penalty as high as $11,000 for violations.
“Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions; that's for the law enforcement officer to decide,” the TSA says. “In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.”
The agency advises leaving firearms at home.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.