NORFOLK, Va. — Security officers at Norfolk International Airport found a loaded gun inside a North Carolina man's handbag Saturday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said.
It was a .380 caliber gun loaded with five bullets, according to the agency.
Airport security officers found the gun after the bag went through an x-ray unit. The bag was flagged and required a closer inspection. Police removed the gun and cited the man on a weapons charge. He also faces a financial penalty for bringing a gun to a TSA security checkpoint, as well as possible prosecution.
This marks the 21st gun caught at Norfolk International Airport in 2023, seven months into the year. TSA officers caught 27 guns in 2022 and 23 guns in 2021.
“Summer travel season is in full swing and it is no time to be bringing prohibited or illegal items to our security checkpoints because it slows down the screening process for everyone until the incident is resolved,” Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, wrote in a news release.
According to TSA, passengers are only permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage, which have to be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided locked case and declared at the airline check-in counter.
Burke said the man missed "one crucial step." He packed the gun in a locked hard-sided case but didn't take it to the airline check-in counter to be transported in the belly of the plane.
"The reason that we mandate that travelers declare their firearms with the airline to be transported with checked baggage is to ensure that there are no guns in the cabin of planes," Burke wrote.
For more information about properly traveling with firearms, visit the TSA's website.