TPA: Guns still illegal at airports despite Florida's new 'permitless carry' law
TAMPA, Fla. - The laws for carrying a gun in public are about to change in Florida.
Starting July 1, you no longer need a permit to carry concealed, as long as you meet the same requirements. But when it comes to carrying at the airport, the same restrictions still apply.
Most of the time, people who are found with guns at the security checkpoint have them there by accident.
The same rules prohibiting weapons in TPA will apply even after the new concealed carry laws go into effect.
RELATED: Constitutional Carry in Florida goes into effect July 1
Often they forget to take it out of a bag that they had brought somewhere else.
"They just forget," said TPA Police Chief Charlie Vaquez. "They went to the range with a bag. And then they got home, and then they get ready to go travel somewhere. And they packed their bag and didn't check. And they just forget when they get to the train checkpoint."
Accidentally bringing guns into the airport can be a costly mistake.
That can be an expensive mistake, with a first offense bringing a $15,000 fine.
Gun confiscations are up this year, going from 76 to this time last year, to 88 this year.
"The idea that you don’t know where your firearm is, that is in and of itself, makes it a dangerous situation for everyone involved to include my screeners, fellow passengers, and those people you may be traveling with that day. It is just inconceivable that you would not know it’s there," explained Kirk Skinner, the director of airport security at Tampa International, St. Pete International and Sarasota International. "That’s setting up a classic situation for a discharge of that firearm."
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In Florida there have been 350 guns confiscated at TSA checkpoints this year.
It’s a misdemeanor in Florida that could come with a sixty-day sentence, even if it’s accidental.