NORFOLK, Va. — Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Virginia man with a loaded gun from getting through the checkpoint at Norfolk International Airport on Tuesday.
The 9mm handgun was loaded with 15 bullets including one in the chamber.
TSA said this was the third gun caught at the checkpoint in just the first seven weeks of 2021.
According to Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein, a TSA officer spotted the gun at the checkpoint X-ray machine.
Norfolk Airport Authority Police were immediately called and they confiscated the weapon. The gun belonged to a man from Northampton County, Virginia.
The man was issued a summons and the case will be forward to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's office for possible charges.
The Virginia man also faces a federal financial civil penalty for carrying a gun to a TSA checkpoint, Farbstein said.
"Guns are not allowed to be carried onto planes," said Chuck Burke, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport.
"That’s no secret as this prohibition has been enforced for decades. Our officers are excellent at stopping weapons and other prohibited items from being carried onto airplanes."
There are approved ways to pack, check and transport a gun by plane. To learn the rules for safely and legally bringing a gun on a plane as checked baggage, visit the TSA website.
