Chester man cited after trying to bring loaded handgun onto flight at RIC

A Chester man was cited by police after Transportation Security Administration officers at Richmond International Airport caught him with a handgun in his carry-on bag Dec. 8. The gun was loaded with seven bullets.

TSA officers stopped the man when his carry-on bag triggered an alarm in the security checkpoint X-ray unit. Upon spotting the weapon, TSA officials alerted airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the handgun, and cited the man on a weapons violation. The man told officials that he forgot that he had his loaded gun with him.

It was the 21st time a weapon had been stopped at a checkpoint at the airport, one more than all of last year and just one shy of the record set in 2020.

“Individuals who own a firearm need to know where their gun is at all times,” said Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “That’s an important part about being a responsible gun owner. Our TSA officers are good at their jobs, and telling us that you forgot that you had a loaded gun with you just doesn’t fly with us. I want to stress that firearms are not permitted through a security checkpoint. This applies to travelers with concealed carry permits or individuals who are enrolled in the TSA PreCheck program. Travelers are only permitted to bring their weapon on a trip if it is packed properly in their checked baggage.”

TSA has the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns with them at a checkpoint. This penalty applies to travelers regardless of their concealed gun carry permit status. Members of TSA PreCheck who travel with a gun in carry-on baggage will lose that privilege.  The complete list of civil penalties is posted online.

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only 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. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website.

Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality and passengers should do their homework to make sure that they are not violating any local firearm laws. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.

TSA officers detected 5,972 firearms at airport security checkpoints nationwide in 2021. Eighty-six percent of those guns were loaded.