TSA Officers Find A Loaded Gun In the Carry-on Bag Of A Virginia Man At National Airport

ARLINGTON, VA — A Fredericksburg man was stopped from bringing a loaded handgun onto a flight leaving Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) Thursday morning, according to a Transportation Security Administration release.

While searching the man's carry-on bag at a DCA checkpoint, a TSA officer found a 9mm handgun loaded with 12 bullets, including one in the chamber.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police were notified. They confiscated the handgun and ammunition and then cited the man on a weapons charge.

“It’s early in the year and already this is the second time that the TSA team at Reagan National Airport has stopped a traveler with a handgun at one of our checkpoints,” said Scott T. Johnson, TSA’s federal security director at DCA, in a release. “There is no good excuse for bringing a gun to a security checkpoint. If you own a firearm, you need to be aware of the laws regarding where you can and cannot bring it. It’s simply part of being a responsible gun owner.”

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.

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