WASHINGTON, DC (WAVY) – Officials say Transportation Security Administration officers stopped 74 handguns at Virginia airport checkpoints in 2019.

This is a decrease from 82 guns caught in 2018.

Virginia’s decrease went against the national trend of an increase in the number of firearms detected at airport checkpoints across the country.

Graphic courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration.

Nationwide, TSA officers say they caught more firearms at checkpoints in 2019 than ever before in the agency’s 18-year history.

Nearly 5,000 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags or on passengers at checkpoints across the country last year.

TSA officials say 87 percent of firearms detected at checkpoints last year were loaded.

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