While airlines may have been less packed in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns, the Transportation Security Administration says more passengers tried to carry a firearm through security checkpoints last year than years prior in the New York City region.

TSA officers stopped 26 handguns at New York City-area airport checkpoints in 2021, an increase from the 17 guns caught in 2020, the agency says.

Nationwide, the agency's officers detected 5,972 firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2021, which the agency says was a significant increase from the 3,257 detected last year and a spike from 4,432 detected in 2019, pre-pandemic.

Approximately 86% of the guns caught in 2021 were loaded, the TSA says. Firearms were caught at 268 airport checkpoints nationwide.

TSA officers at Newark Liberty International Airport confiscated the most firearms in the region, with 12 caught in 2021, followed by John F. Kennedy International Airport with nine, and LaGuardia Airport with four.

Only one firearm was confiscated at New York Stewart International Airport, while no firearms were found at Long Island MacArthur Airport.

Nationwide, the airport with the highest number of firearm confiscations is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgie, with 507 firearms confiscated total.

Travelers who bring firearms to checkpoints are subject to criminal charges from law enforcement and civil penalties from the TSA, though you can travel legally with firearms with the proper firearm permits if they are properly packed in checked bags.