May 12--Here's the first rule for bringing a gun onto a plane: Don't forget you have it with you.
"Most people just forget," said Kevin McCarthy, the Transportation Security Administration's federal security director at Midway Airport. "The two most common excuses are, 'I didn't know it was there' and 'I just forgot.' The ones we've encountered don't have any ill intent."
With more people getting busted for bringing loaded weapons into airports and onto planes, the TSA held a briefing Monday afternoon at Midway on the right way to travel with a gun.
There has been a 22 percent spike in the number of travelers bringing loaded weapons into airports since 2013, according to McCarthy.
A total of 20 were recovered at O'Hare International Airport in 2014, with eight more being found so far this year. Six were found at Midway in 2014, and seven have been recovered so far this year. Nationwide, 1,813 were seized in 2013 and 2,213 in 2014.
McCarthy said the numbers have been pretty much on the rise since 2005.
"Eighty-three percent of guns we find are loaded, some even with rounds in the chamber," he said.
McCarthy said it is possible that people are becoming more complacent and noted that there has been an increase in other prohibited items, such as stun guns and Mace.
Here's the right way to travel with a gun, according to McCarthy:
--Before you leave home, place the unloaded gun into a lockable hard-sided case that will go in checked luggage.
--You may bring ammunition, as much as 11 pounds, but it must be placed in a fiber, wood or metal case separate from the firearm.
--Replica firearms must also be placed in checked luggage.
--While checking in at the ticket counter, declare the gun and sign forms assuring it is not loaded.
If these rules aren't followed, a person will not be allowed to board the flight. Police are called and charges, even fines, are possible, McCarthy said.
Asked if any recent airport weapon recoveries stood out, he remembered one in particular.
"It was last year right here at Midway," he said. "He had a medieval spiked ball on a chain. He was a collector."
