Loaded 9mm Handgun Found In MD Woman's Carryon Bag At Dulles Airport

DULLES, VA — A Maryland woman was stopped by Transportation Security Administration officers from bring in a loaded handgun on a flight leaving Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday.

The X-ray unit at a security checkpoint notified TSA that they had detected a weapon inside an Indian Head woman's carryon baggage.

TSA officials contacted the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police, who confiscated the 9mm handgun loaded with 10 bullets and cited the woman on a weapons charge, according to a TSA release. Civil penalties for attempting to carry a weapon onto a flight leaving a U.S. airport can reach a maximum of $15,000.

“Labor Day holiday travel is underway and when travelers bring prohibited or illegal items such as a loaded gun to any of our security checkpoints, it slows down the screening process during a very busy time of year,” said Scott T. Johnson, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, in a releasee. "When someone shows up with a firearm at the checkpoint, the conveyor belt is stopped until the police arrive and can remove the carry-on bag from the X-ray machine to safely secure the weapon. Guns should never be brought to the security checkpoint in carry-on luggage. This is not a new rule. People have not been permitted to carry a gun into the cabin of a plane for decades before TSA even existed.”

People are allowed to travel with their handguns, but the handguns must be properly stored in their checked baggage and declared at check-in. In addition, handguns must be stored unloaded in a hard-locked case, with ammunition stored separately. The hard-locked case must be brought to the airline check-in window, where it will be checked with the traveler's baggage.

TSA has more information available online for people traveling with firearms.

In 2022, TSA prevented 6,542 firearms at 262 out of 430 airport checkpoints across the U.S. Eight-eight of those firearms were loaded.

TSA firearms catches at checkpoints at Washington Dulles International National Airport from 2016 to 2023:

• 2016: 24
• 2017: 19
• 2018: 17
• 2019: 19
• 2020: 7
• 2021: 19
• 2022: 25
• 2023: 16