We all know how this goes. If you’re going to fly somewhere, you can take your gun. You just can’t walk through security with it on your hip. We know this. While we may not like it, we get it.

More importantly, we all know what happens when you get caught trying to carry a gun through airport security. The best-case scenario is that you lose your gun. The worst is that you lose your freedom.

These days, fewer people are flying. That means there are fewer gun seizures, right?

Well, not really.

Transportation Security Administration screeners found guns in air travelers’ carry-on bags at three times the usual rate this past July as compared to last year, the agency says.

“TSA is diligently working to ensure our employees and passengers are safe and secure while traveling during a pandemic, and yet we are noticing a significant increase in loaded firearms coming into checkpoints,” said TSA administrator David Pekoske in a press release Aug. 10.

Screeners found 15.3 guns per million passengers this past July, compared to 5.1 over the same period last year. That 200% increase is “particularly alarming,” the agency says, given that air travel has nearly evaporated amid the pandemic—TSA screened about 75% fewer passengers in July 2020 compared to July 2019, it says (given that the vast majority of air travelers are screened, such screenings are a pretty good proxy for overall air travel volume).

**sigh**

Alright, let’s go over this again for the turdnuggets in the back who haven’t been paying attention.

Do not carry a gun through airport security. It will not go well for anyone involved except, maybe, the TSA officer who gets to feel like a real police officer for a day.

Honestly, just don’t do it.

You see, part of the problem is that yes, you lose your gun and face criminal charges, but the other part is that this solidifies arguments against gun ownership. This is what anti-gunners will look at and use to justify their opinions about gun owners. It’s hard to convince people that we’re responsible gun owners when people are being this stupid.

Now, that said, let’s also acknowledge that while a 200 percent increase in the number of guns is bad, it’s not like there are guns being brought in every second of every day or anything. It’s 15.3 guns per million passengers. That means the odds of a given passenger having a gun is only slightly greater than a coin toss landing on heads 16 times in a row.

Because yeah, while I get pissed about people doing this, I really should do a better job of reminding myself that this isn’t nearly the epidemic the media makes it out to be. The previous year’s odds were akin to having conjoined twins, after all, and that’s not particularly likely either.

That doesn’t absolve the dipsticks who tried to carry guns onto planes, though. Stupid gets no absolution, nor should it. In fact, it should hurt. A lot.

While I don’t agree with the laws about guns on airplanes–armed citizens could prevent hijackings, after all–it’s the law and I really don’t want to see our side start shooting ourselves in the foot.