29th Gun Of 2022 Detected By TSA Officers At Reagan National Airport

ARLINGTON, VA — Travelers keep trying to bring guns in their carry-on bags onto flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington.

On Monday, officers detected the 29th gun of 2022, one shy of the 30 guns that were detected by officers at the airport in 2021, the most since TSA started keeping data on guns detected at Reagan National Airport in 2017, according to TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.

The latest incident involved an Alexandria man who attempted to sneak a 9 mm caliber handgun onto his flight. TSA officers at Reagan National Airport spotted the gun among his carry-on items and stopped the man from going through security.

Many travelers have tried to bring loaded guns onto flights at Reagan National Airport. But in this case, the Alexandria man’s 9mm caliber handgun was not loaded, TSA said.

After spotting the gun, TSA officers notified the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police, who confiscated the weapon and cited the man.

In a statement Tuesday, John Busch, TSA federal security director for the airport, reminded gun owners to make sure that guns are not in any of their carry-on bags.

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter, according to TSA.

Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on the circumstances, TSA said. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though someone may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane.

In 2021, TSA officers detected 5,972 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints at airports across the U.S. Of the guns caught by TSA in 2021, about 86 percent were loaded.

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