TSA screened more than 10.1 million travelers over Fourth of July weekend, intercepting 70 firearms

The Transportation Security Administration announced Wednesday that it screened more than 10.1 million travelers over the July 4 holiday weekend, and said that it found 70 firearms at checkpoints.

"This holiday weekend, TSA saw over 10 million passengers travel safely through security checkpoints," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement Wednesday. "However, there were 70 firearms intercepted this weekend. We continue to remind passengers to pack mindfully and help us avoid the dangers, delays and consequences that accompany a gun or weapon detected at a security checkpoint."

Pekoske said that some airports had exceeded 2019 travel volumes, with many other airports not far behind. Pekoske did not mention which airports had exceeded previous years' numbers or what those numbers were for each airport.

According to the statement, July 1 was the busiest day of air travel for the weekend. The TSA  had screened 2,147,090 people, which was 103% more than the number of travelers screened on Thursday of the 2019 July 4 weekend.

Pekose recommended those wanting to travel by air continue to wear masks on flights. There is still a mask mandate for hubs of travel such as airports and bus and train terminals.