Republicans and Democrats demonstrated a fundamental disagreement Tuesday on how best to address skyrocketing numbers of weapons being confiscated at airport security checkpoints, with Republicans arguing for more education and Democrats more inclined to embrace higher penalties for offenders.
While both parties agreed that the nearly 6,000 guns confiscated at airport security by Transportation Security Administration officers in 2021 was a problem, Republicans on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security argued that most offenders were inadvertent offenders — people who had simply forgotten that they had a gun in their bag.
“The people who made an honest mistake, you could charge a million dollars, it’s not going to deter them,” said subcommittee ranking member Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. “They made an honest mistake.”
