Petersburg woman arrested after trying to bring gun onto plane at RIC
Table of Contents
Transportation Security Administration officers at Richmond International Airport prevented a Petersburg woman from carrying her handgun onto a flight May 29. The 9-mm caliber handgun was loaded with eight bullets, including one in the chamber.
TSA officers stopped the woman when her carry-on bag triggered an alarm in the security checkpoint X-ray unit. It was the sixth handgun that TSA officers have detected at the security checkpoints at the airport so far this year, following 20 such cases last year.
Upon spotting the weapon, TSA alerted airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the handgun and cited the woman on a weapons violation.
TSA has the right to issue civil penalties to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch to thousands of dollars, depending upon the circumstances. Penalties apply to people with or without concealed gun carry permits, because those permits do not allow firearms to be brought onto planes.
A complete list of civil penalties is posted online.
TSA PreCheck members who incur the penalties also will lose their PreCheck privileges.
TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website. Travelers also should contact their airlines, which may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.
