TSA Officers Stopped 2 Men From Bringing Guns Onto Flights At Reagan National Airport

ARLINGTON, VA — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers stopped two men from bringing their guns onto flights leaving from a Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), according to a TSA release.

During a search of a Florida man's carry-on bag on Dec. 28, TSA officers using an X-ray machine discovered an unloaded .40 caliber handgun and 116 bullets.

On Saturday, TSA officers stopped another man at a DCA checkpoint with a .40 caliber handgun loaded with six bullets.

In both unrelated cases, TSA officers alerted the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police, who arrested the men and confiscated the guns an ammunition.

“On behalf of the dedicated TSA officers of DCA ensuring all passengers are safe flying from Reagan Airport, I want to be crystal clear,” said Scott T. Johnson, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, in a release. “You cannot bring a gun onto a flight—not loaded or unloaded, not locked, not even if you have a concealed carry permit."

Johnson went on to say that people who are caught with bringing a weapon to an airport checkpoint face stiff federal financial penalties.

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided locked case, and packed separately from ammunition. The locked case must be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.

Related:

VA Man With Loaded Handgun Stopped At Reagan TSA Checkpoint

Loaded Handgun Discovered At Reagan National Airport