Two men were caught with handguns at Virginia’s Dulles International Airport’s security checkpoints this week.
A man from Pennsylvania was caught with a loaded handgun at one of the airport’s security checkpoints on Thursday while attempting to get onto a flight, the Transportation Security Administration said in a news release.
Officials with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department took the 9 mm handgun loaded with 15 bullets from the man. He was cited on a weapons charge, the TSA said.
The man, who claimed that he didn’t know he had his gun with him, could see a penalty of up to $15,000 for bringing a gun to an airport checkpoint.
“Two guns caught in a three-day span says a lot about the continued vigilance of our TSA officers,鈥� Scott T. Johnson, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, said in a statement. “Claiming that you forgot that you had a loaded gun with you is a tragic accident waiting to happen. There is no excuse for bringing a gun to the checkpoint.”
On November 27, a man from Hagerstown, Maryland, tried to bring a 9mm handgun loaded with 15 bullets, including one in the chamber, through a security checkpoint, . The authority said that there were also 12 additional bullets packed with it.
The gun was confiscated and the man also faces a civil penalty of up to $15,000.
, 23 handguns have been captured at Dulles security checkpoints this year.
Those who are traveling by plane can bring their firearms inside a checked luggage. .
Over 6,000 guns were detected at airport security checkpoints throughout the country, the TSA said.
Just last week, Reagan National Airport set a new record for number of guns caught at security checkpoints after a Maryland woman was caught with a loaded handgun at one of the airport’s security checkpoints during Thanksgiving travel.
