Hey there Florida gun owners. Feeling a little more paranoid than usual these days? Don't trust the government can protect you from potential menaces when you're catching a flight out of Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, or Miami?
The Transportation Security Administration certainly seems to think you're all freaking out. The airport patdown agency recently issued a travel advisory telling y'all to leave your steel at home after a recent increase in seized firearms at airports across the Gunshine State.
In less than a week, TSA officials confiscated ten handguns in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando with the most recent stopped today in Tampa, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
"Unpack before packing to be sure you do not have prohibited items such as guns in your carry-on bag," TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz wrote in the advisory email.
Orlando is numero uno when it comes to die-hard Second Amendment acolytes who pack heat inside their carry-on bags, leading the state with 31 guns seized this year. Fort Lauderdale and Tampa took the second place spot, tied at 29. Rounding out the top five airports where dumb gun owners don't know how to follow the law are Miami (25), Jacksonville (19), and Palm Beach (10).
Recent gun confiscations include four in four days in Miami and three in four days in Jacksonville. Passengers on domestic flights are allowed to travel with firearms if they are properly declared, unloaded and cased inside checked luggage.
Authorities have confiscated 2,700 firearms at airports across the country since last year.
More than 1,200 have been stopped this year, according to TSA.
Follow Francisco Alvarado on Twitter: @thefrankness.
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