TSA Says Government Shutdown Not to Blame for Passenger With Gun on International Flight

On Sunday (Jan. 13), TSA confirmed that a passenger was able to slip a gun through the Delta Airlines checkpoint at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport onto an international flight heading to Tokyo, Japan. When this mistake was made public, many felt as though it was a result of the ongoing partial government shut down. However, despite workers calling off work at alarming rates and complaints regarding missing wages, the agency has concluded that this mistake was a result of failed procedures and not the lack of employees after a thorough investigation.

"TSA has determined standard procedures were not followed, and a passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a firearm at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the morning of January 3," the Transportation Security Administration said in a press release, accompanied with tweets confirming that reports that the government shutdown affected this incident are false.