TSA catches loaded handgun at Reagan National Airport security checkpoint

Local Press Release
Friday, March 12, 2021
TSA officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport stopped a Delaware man with this loaded handgun at the security checkpoint on March 11. (TSA photo)

ARLINGTON, Va. – Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers caught a Delaware resident with a 9mm handgun loaded with 20 bullets among the man’s carry-on items at a Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport security checkpoint on Thursday, March 11.      

A TSA officer spotted the handgun on the checkpoint X-ray machine’s monitor as the man’s carry-on items were being screened. TSA immediately alerted Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police, which responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the weapon and questioned the man, who was then cited on a local charge.

The man told officials that he went to a shooting range the previous day and that he forgot to remove his gun from the bag that he took to the airport.

The man now faces stiff Federal civil penalties for bringing a loaded gun to an airport security checkpoint that could cost him thousands of dollars.

TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating 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. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.

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.

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality.

TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.

Firearms Caught at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport checkpoint, 2017 to 2021

Year

2017

2018

2019

2020* 

2021*

Guns caught

13

16

14

10

4

*Significantly fewer passengers than previous year due to the pandemic.

Nationwide, TSA officers detected 3,257 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year, although the total number of passengers screened at airport checkpoints across the country fell by 500 million compared to 2019 due to the pandemic. The result was that twice as many firearms per million passengers screened were detected at checkpoints in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2020, TSA caught approximately 10 firearms per million passengers as compared to about five firearms per million passengers in 2019.  Of the guns caught by TSA in 2020, about 83 percent were loaded.

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