TSA Found 2 Handguns In The Carry-On Bags Of 2 VA Men Boarding Flights At Dulles Airport

DULLES, VA — Transportation Security Administration officers stopped two Northern Virginia men from bringing handguns onto flights leaving Washington Dulles International Airport on Sunday, according to a release.

In the first incident, an unloaded .32 caliber handgun was found in the carry-on bag of a Great Falls man, and in the second, TSA officers discovered a 9 mm handgun loaded with 15 bullets in a Leesburg man's carry-on bag, according to the release. Both men claim they'd forget about carrying the weapons with them. TSA reported that the incidents were not related.

Both handguns were detected when the two men set off alarms when they entered an X-ray unit at an airport security checkpoint. TSA notified the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police, who took the handguns from the travelers and cited the men on weapons charges.

“Responsible gun owners know where their weapons are at all times and they take care to pack them properly for transport on a flight,” said Scott T. Johnson, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, in a release. “Each individual now faces a stiff federal financial civil penalty.”

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.

The two weapons detected by the TSA were the fifth and sixth handguns to be confiscated at the airport since the beginning of the year.

Firearms caught at IAD checkpoints from 2017 to 2022:

• 2017 -13
• 2018-16
• 2019-14
• 2020-10*
• 2021-30*
• 2022-6*

* Fewer flights left from the airport due to the pandemic.