A gunshot sounded out at a security checkpoint on Saturday at Atlanta’s worldwide airport, sending out tourists into a panic and briefly grounding flights the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.
The weapon was released at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Saturday afternoon, after an X-ray screening identified a “restricted product” in a male guest’s bag. When TSA authorities attempted to browse the bag, the male grabbed the weapon within, and it fired. Airport authorities explained the single gunshot as unintentional and stated no one was struck, however the event triggered a panic amongst surrounding tourists, a number of whom dropped to the flooring or started running for security, causing some small injuries. The guy with the weapon, who has a felony record, ran away the scene with his weapon. Authorities started looking for him however stated it was not an active-shooter circumstance.
An unintended weapon discharge in the Atlanta airport triggered mass panic today amongst guests who believed there was an active shooter.
In 2014, Georgia legislators passed a NRA-supported ““ weapons all over ” law permitting packed weapons inside airports. #gapol pic.twitter.com/fmUnV4GA3f
—– Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 20, 2021
Nobody was seriously damaged, and the airport resumed typical operation within 2 hours. The occurrence is the newest example of relentless security issues stemming from lax weapon policies that have actually led to a rise in gun seizures at airports around the nation in current years . Taking a weapon through security checkpoints at airports is unlawful, however increasingly more tourists are trying to do so (whether deliberately or unintentionally), according to information from the Transportation Security Administration. In the very first 10 months of the year, TSA authorities nationally took a record 4,650 guns at checkpoints. The majority of were packed. As flight returns towards pre-pandemic levels, the issue might intensify even more.
The phenomenon has actually ended up being especially uneasy in Georgia, where legislators in 2014 made it simpler for individuals to bring weapons in schools, bars, churches, federal government structures, and particular parts of airports. The NRA-backed Safe Carry Protection Act , understood by critics as a “weapons all over expense,” likewise restricts police authorities from asking armed residents whether they have weapon licenses. When Republican Gov. Nathan Deal signed the policy into law, he stated he wished to assist individuals secure themselves: “The Second Amendment must never ever be an afterthought. It ought to live at the leading edges of our minds,” he stated at the time. The 2014 law does not enable individuals to bring weapons previous airport security checkpoints, however it does permit guns in other parts of airports, consisting of the basic parking lot, pathways, stores, and other pre-checkpoint locations of terminals.
During the very first 9 months of this year, the TSA took 391 gun at Atlanta’s airport alone, up from 220 in 2015 and 323 in 2019. Some individuals have actually declared that they forgot the weapons remained in their bags, according to the TSA. As more individuals take a trip house for the vacations—– the TSA evaluated up of 2.2 million tourists across the country Friday, the most given that the pandemic started—– guns seizures, and perhaps more unintentional or deliberate shooting, are most likely to continue.
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Read more: motherjones.com
