On Monday at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, Transportation Security Administration officials discovered a firearm concealed among the carry-on belongings of a passenger from Georgia and therefore barred that passenger from boarding an aircraft.
According to a news statement issued by the TSA, the pistol had a caliber of.22 and had eight rounds. It was the eighth weapon to be discovered at the airport in the current calendar year.
When the seventh handgun of 2022 was found at an airport last month, this made it the most weapons ever found at an airport in a single year.
During the year 2021, TSA officials found 5,972 firearms at various checkpoints around the country. According to the continuation of the press release, 86 percent of the firearms had ammunition in them. So far this year, TSA workers at checkpoints all over the United States have found more than 5,200 guns.
On Monday, a TSA worker working an x-ray monitor at the Roanoke airport discovered a pistol concealed among the carry-on belongings of a Georgia man. The goods were being scanned as they were being fed into the scanner. The officer notified other officers, who then took the firearm away and issued the suspect with a citation for having a weapon.
“He also now faces a stiff federal financial civil citation for bringing a loaded gun to a security checkpoint,” the TSA press release said.
The Transportation Security Administration does not make public the identities of those who are charged after having their firearms seized at airports. Therefore, it is impossible to keep track of the punishments that have been inflicted on them.
Robin “Chuck” Burke, who is in charge of airport security for the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA), says that guns are not allowed at any airport security checkpoint.
“Our officers are skilled at ensuring prohibited items are not making it through our security checkpoints,” he said. “Travelers need to pack their firearms properly in checked baggage to declare them or leave them at home. Now this individual faces a stiff financial federal civil penalty, which is an expensive mistake to make.”
“Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars,” the press release continued. “This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits. Possession of a concealed carry permit isn’t permission to carry a firearm onto an airplane.”
For details on how to properly travel with a firearm, visit the TSA’s website.
