They are considering banning guns at airports entirely, despite what state law may say about the matter. Since when did airports become federal installations? I’m sorry to say, but if this passes, Philadelphia will, no doubt, exercise this authority, which means I won’t be able to go to the GBR III event, since it seems to indicate they can just ban them:
The Airports Council International said in a recent letter to Hartsfield, “There is no justification for permitting firearms at any airport.” Policies vary from state to state and from airport to airport. Some bar guns fully, others allow them, sometimes in areas such as a parking lot, said Charles Chambers, the council’s security chief.
Hartsfield spokesman Herschel Grangent said that someone firing a gun in the airport would force a massive evacuation that could disrupt flights nationwide. Hartsfield, with 89 million passengers in 2007, is the world’s busiest airport.
Just one more reason to avoid flying. This is going to be a bitch on competitive shooters if TSA doesn’t make exceptions. Does TSA even have the legal authority to do this?
UPDATE: Looking at the relevant US Code and Federal Regulations regarding airport security, it is my, admitedly non-professional opinion, that the banning firearms from airports entirely would require a change in the Code of Federal Regulations (which is subject to the rulemaking process), but because the US Code demands the screening of all passengers and property, essentially you’d have to make the entire airport a secured area, meaning banning them in the parking lots would be largely impossible. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act doesn’t seem to grant TSA the power to regulate activity in the non-secured areas of airports. They seem to be able to issue recommendations, so they could certainly recommend to the State of Georgia to ban guns in its airports, but in my reading, they can’t force the issue.
