Augusta Regional Airport sees rise in passengers, gun seizures

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta Regional Airport saw an increase in the number of guns found at the security checkpoint in the past six months, but that shouldn’t be a surprise since it saw many more passengers than in the same time last year.

The Transportation Security Administration intercepted nine firearms in the first half of 2024, compared to six in the same period of 2023.

The bigger news may be the increase in passengers at the airport.

The airport saw 174,165 passengers in the first half of 2024, compared to 159,547 in the first half of 2023.

GEORGIA AIRPORT GUN SEIZURES:

The number of guns found at the Augusta airport is microscopic compared to the state’s behemoth Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest.

Hartsfield-Jackson led the country in firearm detections with 222 in the first half of 2024, according to the agency. The agency said the airport screened 15 million passengers. Airport security detected 214 firearms in 13.4 million screenings in the same period last year.

The TSA says one gun was discovered for 65,828 passengers screened at Georgia airports, more than twice the national average.

Nationally, 443.1 million passengers were screened in the first six months of the year. That’s a 7% increase from last year.

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