he TSA’s army of screeners who make sure passengers adhere to security procedures before boarding flights at airports around the country are, of course, among the some 800,000 federal employees affected by the ongoing government shutdown. As in, the TSA agents have either been furloughed or aren’t being paid at the moment. But the agency wants to assure you that the shutdown — which has reportedly led a number of federal workers around the country to call in sick, freeing them up to work other jobs they can actually get paid for — had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that a few days ago, a flyer was able to slip a gun past TSA agents in Atlanta. Not only that, but the passenger flew with it, tucked in some carry-on luggage, all the way to Tokyo Narita International Airport.
“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 TSA explained in a news release. The agency went on to deny this incident had anything to do with the ongoing shutdown — that the shutdown, in other words, is not leading to any kind of lapse in security.
