This gun was and ammunition were detected by TSA in a traveler’s carry-on bag at Harrisburg International Airport on July 4. (TSA photo)
HARRISBURG, Pa. – A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer at Harrisburg International Airport prevented an Adams County, Pa., man from bringing a handgun onto his flight on Monday, July 4. The man, a resident of East Berlin, Pa., was found with a .25 caliber handgun loaded with six bullets along with two boxes of ammunition among his carry-on items.
When the TSA officer spotted the gun and ammunition in the checkpoint X-ray machine, the police were alerted and confiscated the gun and ammunition and detained him for questioning. TSA also forwarded the incident to be followed up with the issuance of a federal financial civil penalty.
It was the fifth gun that TSA officers have detected at the airport checkpoint so far this year.
“Bringing a loaded gun to a security checkpoint is a serious offense,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “It was a busy holiday of travel and bringing a loaded gun to the airport is an accident waiting to happen. Travelers should know better. Guns have been prohibited from being carried onto planes for decades before TSA even existed. So it should be no surprise when someone is stopped at our checkpoint, has their weapon confiscated by police and is then heavily fined by TSA.”
TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty of up to $13,900 to individuals who bring weapons with them to a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating or aggravating 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. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
Travelers are allowed to transport their firearms as checked baggage if they are properly packed and declared at their airline ticket counter to be transported in the belly of the plane. 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.
Nationwide, TSA officers detected 5,972 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year. Of the guns caught by TSA in 2022, about 86 percent were loaded.