NORFOLK, Va. - TSA officers arrested a man after finding a loaded gun in his carry-on bag at Norfolk International Airport.
Officers stopped the Virginia Beach resident on Saturday, April 9 when his carry-on bags triggered an alarm in the security checkpoint X-ray unit. TSA alerted airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the handgun and arrested the man on a weapons violation.
“The regulation preventing the carrying of guns onto planes has been in place for decades, so this is nothing new,” said Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport.
The man was carrying a 9mm caliber handgun loaded with nine bullets, including one in the chamber. He told officials that he forgot that he had his loaded gun with him.
“Forgetting that you have a loaded handgun in your possession is a careless mistake to make, especially when you are headed to the airport for a flight,” said Burke.
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 [tsa.gov].
