This gun was detected in a man’s carry-on bag at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport TSA security checkpoint on Oct. 24. (TSA photo)
ROANOKE, Va.—Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers prevented a Georgia man from boarding his flight at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport with a handgun on Monday (Oct. 24). The .22 caliber gun was loaded with eight bullets.
It marked the eighth gun detected by TSA at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport so far this year. This is the highest number of guns caught at the airport in a single calendar year with two months remaining in 2022.
The TSA officer who was staffing the checkpoint X-ray monitor on Monday spotted the weapon among the man’s carry-on items as they entered the checkpoint X-ray machine. TSA alerted the police who confiscated the handgun and cited the man on a weapons charge. He also now faces a stiff federal financial civil citation for bringing a loaded gun to a security checkpoint.
“Firearms are not allowed at a security checkpoint at any airport,” said Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “Our officers are skilled at ensuring prohibited items are not making it through our security checkpoints. 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.”
TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website.
Bringing a gun to an airport checkpoint carries a federal civil penalty because TSA reserves the right to penalize 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. Possession of a concealed carry permit isn’t permission to carry a firearm onto an airplane. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. Additionally, if a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality and passengers should do their homework to make sure that they are not violating any local firearm laws. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.
Firearms caught by TSA officers at the ROA Airport checkpoint, 2016 to 2022
|
Year |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 (As of 10/24/22) |
|
Guns caught at ROA checkpoint |
6 |
3 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
8 |
Last year TSA officers detected 5,972 guns at security checkpoints nationwide and 86 percent of them were loaded. So far this year, TSA officers have detected more than 5,200 firearms at checkpoints across the country.