Man Carries Loaded Gun At JFK Airport On Fourth Of July, Arrested: TSA

QUEENS — A man was arrested on the Fourth of July after he was caught carrying a loaded gun in his carry-on bag at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Transportation Security Administration said.

Officers caught the man with a 9mm handgun loaded with 10 bullets after he passed his carry-on bag through a security checkpoint on July 4, TSA officials said.

The gun carrier was arrested and imposed a financial penalty that could reach as high as $15,000, according to TSA officials.

“This was a good catch on a busy holiday,” said John Essig, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. "It’s busy out there and when someone brings a prohibited or illegal item such as a firearm to an airport security checkpoint, it slows things down for everyone else."

The arrest comes less than a week after an employee who worked at the Queens airport was arrested after he entered the workplace with a loaded handgun.

Officers have caught seven firearms in the first week of July so far, the airport security cohort said.

Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at 262 out of 430 airport security checkpoints nationwide. Eighty-eight percent of those guns were loaded.