VA Man Brought Loaded Gun To Dulles Airport: TSA

DULLES, VA — Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Harrisonburg man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a flight leaving Washington Dulles International Airport on Sunday.

The X-ray unit at an airport checkpoint alerted TSA officers that they had detected a firearm in the man’s carry-on bag. Searching the man’s carry-on items, the officers found a .40 caliber handgun was loaded with 12 bullets, according to the TSA.

Officers from the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority Police were contacted. They confiscated the firearm and issued a criminal citation to the traveler. He faces a potential financial penalty of up to $15,000 for bringing a weapon to an airport checkpoint.

“We have a procedure in place for properly packing a firearm for a flight, and bringing a loaded gun to a checkpoint is certainly not the proper procedure,” said Eric Beane, TSA’s acting federal security director for the airport. “The gun needs to be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided case and taken to your airline check-in counter so that it is transported in the underbelly of the aircraft. This way nobody has access to it during the flight. The man now faces a federal civil financial penalty for bringing his gun to the checkpoint.”

TSA officers detected 29 firearms at Washington Dulles International Airport in 2024, which was five more than the 24 stopped in 2023. So far, TSA officers have stopped four guns at Dulles Airport checkpoints in 2025.

How To Travel Legally With A Firearm

Passengers are allowed to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case, with ammunition stored separately. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter, where it will be checked with the traveler's baggage.

The TSA has details online that explain how to properly travel with a firearm.