Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) agents at Syracuse-Hancock International Airport in New York stopped a Texas man at the security checkpoint on April 8 who was carrying a .40 caliber revolver loaded with 11 rounds, including one in the chamber.
"When the TSA officer spotted the gun in the checkpoint X-ray machine, airport police were alerted, came to the checkpoint and confiscated the weapon from the traveler," the agency stated in an April 10 news release. "The man told officials that he drove to New York state from his home in Texas and forgot that he had his loaded gun with him when he arrived at SYR for his flight."
Airport police were called to the checkpoint and took the gun away from the traveler, the release reports.
Bart Johnson, TSA’s Federal Security Director for 13 airports in upstate New York, said in the release that this incident is the second time this year TSA officers have prevented a loaded gun from being taken onto an airplane.
“When dangerous items are presented in the screening checkpoint," Johnson said, "we have serious safety and security concerns for all in the area, and the resolution disrupts the process for the passengers waiting behind the offender.”
The Texas man faces a "stiff federal financial civil penalty," Johnson said in the release, which reports fines can be up to $15,000.
People who choose to travel with firearms must pack them securely into checked bags and declare them at the airline check-in counter so the weapons can be transported in the plane’s cargo area, where no one would have access to them during the flight, the release reports. TSA offers online instructions on how to safely travel with a firearm; additionally, travelers should also learn if the airlines they are using might have additional guidelines for bringing weapons and ammunition onto flights.
In 2022, 6,542 weapons were discovered at 262 of the 430 airport security checkpoints around the country last year, according to the release; 88% of those weapons were loaded.
“This was a great catch on the part of our TSA officers, and they should be commended for their vigilance in ensuring that nobody passes the checkpoint with a prohibited or illegal item,” Johnson said in the news release.
