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7 Airports Allow Guns In Public Areas

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The Associated Press

Published: October 16, 2008

ATLANTA - Flying in the United States has been transformed since the Sept. 11 attacks, with passengers forced to remove their shoes, take out their laptop computers, and put liquids and gels in clear plastic bags. Yet it's legal to take a loaded gun right up to the security checkpoint at some of the biggest U.S. airports.

An Associated Press survey of the nation's 20 busiest airports found that seven of them - Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco - let people with gun permits carry firearms in the public areas of the terminal.

Some anti-terrorism experts say that is a glaring security loophole that could endanger airport workers, passengers and people waiting to pick them up or see them off. Some suggest that allowing guns in terminals is practically asking for them to be smuggled aboard a plane.

"If your airport is not secure, then the security of your airplanes is jeopardized," said Rafi Ron, former airport security chief in Israel who now works as an aviation consultant. "You cannot separate the two."

Other authorities say the nonsecure areas of the terminal are no different from other public venues and do not warrant restrictions.

"It's really not more of a concern than at a mall or a train station," said Philadelphia police Lt. Louis Liberati.

Under federal law, it is illegal everywhere to try to carry a gun through an airport security checkpoint. The rest of the terminal, however, has long been the domain of state and local authorities.

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