Firearms found at TSA checkpoints

American craft-distillery counts and TSA firearm interceptions, climbing together. Two cottage industries with very different products. The bourbon distiller in Kentucky is not, on average, the traveller in line at Atlanta. Yet here we are.

Firearms found at TSA checkpoints grew from about 3,400 in 2013 to over 6,500 by 2023 as gun ownership rose, concealed-carry laws expanded, and a larger share of travellers were armed in their daily lives. Craft distilleries grew from a few hundred to over 2,500 across this window, lifted by state-level licensing reforms and the same locavore wave that gave craft beer its lift. Two unrelated stories of small-scale American industry expanding through the 2010s, with different consumers and very different licensing regimes. The country grew both quietly.

Two cottage trends, opposite end uses. The decade was good to small operations regardless of intent.