NORFOLK, Va. - Transportation Security Administration officers at Norfolk International Airport stopped a Virginia Beach resident from carrying a loaded handgun onto a flight Wednesday.
According to the TSA, the man was carrying a loaded 9mm caliber handgun. Officers stopped him when his carry-on bags triggered an alarm in the security checkpoint X-ray unit; he was then cited on a weapons violation and his handgun was confiscated by airport police.
This was the fourth gun that TSA officers have stopped at the airport’s checkpoints so far this year.
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.
According to the TSA, officers detected 23 guns at Norfolk International Airport at the checkpoints in 2021.
Last year, 5,972 firearms were caught at airport security checkpoints nationwide. Eighty-six percent of those guns were loaded.
