This .380 caliber handgun was detected by TSA officers at the Norfolk International Airport checkpoint on Sunday, July 16. It was loaded with seven bullets. (Photo courtesy of TSA.)
NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach man was cited on a weapons charge after TSA officers detected a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his carry-on bag at a Norfolk International Airport checkpoint Sunday.
TSA officers spotted the .380 caliber handgun loaded with seven bullets as it was going through the checkpoint x-ray machine.
The TSA officer noticed the gun as it passed along the conveyor belt inside the man’s bag and immediately contacted Norfolk Airport Authority Police.
Airport Police confiscated the man’s gun.
“There is a right way to travel with a firearm and a wrong way. The wrong way is to bring it to a checkpoint,” a TSA spokesperson said. “Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are unloaded, packed in a hard-side case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Then the firearm must be taken to the airline check-in counter and declared.”
For more details on how to properly travel with a firearm, click here.
