TSA officers prevent Tennessee man from carrying his gun onto flight at Reagan National Airport

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) prevented a Tennessee man from bringing his handgun onto a flight on Saturday, April 15.  The .40 caliber gun was not loaded, however there were two loaded gun magazines with 19 bullets packed alongside the weapon.

The firearm was caught as the man entered the security checkpoint. The X-ray unit alerted on a carry-on bag, which was searched and the firearm removed by a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police officer, who confiscated the gun and cited the man on a weapons charge.  

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) | Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

“It is unfortunate that we continue to see travelers carrying their firearms and ammunition to the security checkpoint here at Reagan National Airport and airports across the country,” said John Busch, TSA’s Federal Security Director the airport. “It has been decades—long before TSA existed—that a regulation has been in place that prohibits passengers from possessing firearms during a flight. If you own a gun and want to transport it on your flight, that’s fine with us as long as it is unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided case and taken to the airline check-in counter 

to be declared. The airline will ensure it is transported in the belly of the plane so that nobody has access to it during a fight.”

TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website.

In addition to the citation by airport police, this individual now faces a stiff financial civil penalty. Civil penalties for carrying a weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.

Firearms are not permitted through a security checkpoint because passengers should not have access to a firearm during a flight. This even applies to travelers with concealed carry permits or are enrolled in the TSA PreCheck® program, who will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges if they bring a gun to a checkpoint.  Individuals who bring their gun to a security checkpoint also face a federal financial civil penalty.

Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at 262 out of 430 airport security checkpoints nationwide. Eighty-eight percent of those guns were loaded.

Original source can be found here