A Brick, NJ, man was caught with this loaded handgun among his carry-on items at the airport on March 28. (TSA photo)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – An Ocean County, New Jersey, man was stopped by the security team at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at the Atlantic City International Airport on Sunday, March 28, when they detected a 9mm handgun loaded with nine bullets in his carry-on bag.
Security officials notified the New Jersey State Police, who responded to the checkpoint, interviewed the Brick, New Jersey, man and escorted him from the airport. He now faces the possibility of a Federal financial penalty for bringing a gun to a security checkpoint.
It was the second gun that was caught at the airport checkpoint this month. That compares to the two guns were caught at the airport checkpoint during all 12 months in both 2020 and 2019.
Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter to be transported in the belly of the plane. Guns are absolutely not permitted to be carried onto planes. Checked firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality and travelers should check into firearm laws before they decide to travel with their guns. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.
When an individual shows up at a checkpoint with a firearm, the checkpoint lane comes to a standstill until the police resolve the incident. Guns at checkpoints can delay travelers from getting to their gates.
Firearms caught at the Atlantic City International Airport Checkpoint, 2019 to 2021
|
ACY Airport |
2019 |
2020* |
2021* |
|
Guns caught at the checkpoint |
2 |
2 |
2 |
*Significantly fewer travelers due to the pandemic.
TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating circumstances. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though an individual may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
Nationwide, TSA officers detected 3,257 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year, although the total number of passengers screened at airport checkpoints across the country fell by 500 million compared to 2019 due to the pandemic. The result was that twice as many firearms per million passengers screened were detected at checkpoints in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2020, TSA caught approximately 10 firearms per million passengers as compared to about five firearms per million passengers in 2019. Of the guns caught by TSA in 2020, about 83 percent were loaded.