The Transportation Security Administration’s Office of Inspection has recorded more than 200 cases of air marshals misusing firearms on duty.
According to documents obtained by CNN under the Freedom of Information Act, air marshals unintentionally discharged their weapons in 19 cases, and 70 times air marshals lost, misplaced or had their firearms stolen.
More than a dozen incidents involved alcohol including one when a marshal flew while drunki and another attended a training exercise under the influence.
The data supplied to CNN covered the period from 2005 to 2017.
While most incidents do not impact the safety of themselves or others, a few blunders were more serious, such as when an agent ‘unintentionally discharged a personally owned firearm resulting in a gunshot wound to his right foot’ and an incident in 2013 when an air marshal inadvertently fired his weapon in a hotel room and damaged a TV in an adjoining room.
The TSA says these documented incidents are rare and involve less than 1% of the air marshal workforce.
"All reports of misconduct are taken seriously and fully investigated. When those investigations validate any misconduct, TSA takes swift disciplinary actions," spokesman Thomas Kelly told CNN.
