PG County Man With Loaded Gun Arrested At BWI Checkpoint

LINTHICUM, MD -- A Prince George's County man with a handgun in his carry-on bag was stopped at a Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) checkpoint Tuesday morning by Transportation Security Administration officers, according to a TSA release. This is the second gun TSA officers have stopped so far in 2020.

On the morning of Jan. 21, a TSA officer at BWI saw a handgun in a carry-on bag inside a checkpoint X-ray machine. The officer notified the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, who confiscated the firearm and detained the man whose carry-on bag it was in. The weapon was identified as a 9 mm handgun loaded with eight bullets, including one in the chamber. After interviewing the man, who was identified as a resident of Fort Washington, Maryland, officers arrested him on weapons charges.

In 2019, TSA officers found a total of 4,432 firearms on passengers or in carry-on bags nationwide. That comes out to an average of 12.1 firearms a day, or a 5 percent overall increase in discoveries compared to the 4,239 confiscated in 2018 across the U.S. Of all the firearms detected at checkpoints in 2019, 87 percent were loaded.

Firearms Stopped By TSA Agents By year

* As of Jan. 21, 2020

TSA can level federal civil penalties of up to $13,000 against individuals who bring firearms to an airport checkpoint, with a typical penalty for first-time offense being $4,100. Those travelers may face additional criminal charges from law enforcement.

Individuals with the proper permits can travel with a firearm in their checked bags, provided the weapon is locked, unloaded, packed separately from ammunition and in a hard-side case. The ammunition must be inside its original packaging, even if the box is not full. For guidelines, visit the TSA website.

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