More U.S. passengers carry guns in bags to airports

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- More and more U.S. travellers are putting guns in their carry-on bags at Southern California airports, a U.S. local newspaper reported last Thursday.

In 2018, one gun was found out of 584,187 boarding passengers on average, according to the Orange County Register, citing data from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

In 2021, the behavior became more common, as one gun was seized for every 226,764 boarding passengers, it said.

"It's possible that more people are carrying guns routinely, partly a response to an increasingly tense and volatile political environment and relaxed laws in some states around both open and concealed carry," said David S. Meyer, a sociology professor on gun policy and violence at UC Irvine.