TSA prevents man from carrying loaded gun onto Richmond flight

A Newport News man was cited by the police after Transportation Security Administration officers at Richmond International Airport caught him with a handgun in his carry-on bag Oct. 3. The .40 caliber handgun was loaded with four bullets, including one in the chamber.

It was the 16th weapon stopped at a checkpoint at the airport so far this year, following 20 such occurrences last year and a record-high 22 in 2020.

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 alerted airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the handgun, and cited the man on weapons violations.

“Our TSA officers are good at their jobs and I appreciate the work that they do every day, remaining focused on our mission by keeping dangerous items off the aircraft,” said Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “Hopefully, this will serve as a reminder to other gun owners to check their carry-on bags to ensure that they do not have a firearm or any ammunition among their carry-on items when they travel by air.”

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.