This handgun was detected by TSA officers in a passenger’s carry-on bag at Raleigh County Memorial Airport on May 26. (TSA photo)
BECKLEY, W.Va. – Transportation Security Administration officers at Raleigh County Memorial Airport prevented an Alabama man from carrying his handgun onto a flight on Thursday, May 26. The .380 caliber handgun was not loaded.
TSA officers stopped the man when his backpack triggered an alarm in the security checkpoint X-ray unit. It was the first handgun that TSA officers have detected at the airport’s security checkpoint so far this year.
Upon spotting the weapon, TSA alerted airport police, who responded to the checkpoint and confiscated the weapon. The man told officials that he forgot that he had placed the gun in his backpack.
“Bringing a deadly weapon to an airport security checkpoint is a serious offense,” said John C. Allen, TSA’s Federal Security Director for West Virginia. “If you own a firearm, you need to know where it is at all times. This individual now faces a stiff federal financial penalty that could cost him thousands of dollars.”
TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns with them at a checkpoint. 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.
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.
Bringing a gun to an airport checkpoint carries a federal civil penalty because 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. Additionally, if a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
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.