NEW YORK — A Virginia man was arrested on Tuesday after trying to bring a loaded gun through security at JFK Airport in New York. This is reportedly the fourth gun TSA officers have found at airport checkpoints so far this year.
The gun was caught as the man, later determined to be a resident of Alexandria, tried to walk through security with it in his carry-on bag. After his bag went through the X-ray machine, officers were alerted to the gun. TSA told Port Authority Police, and officers took the gun away and arrested the man on a weapons charge. TSA does not confiscate guns, police do.
In addition to being arrested, the man also faced a stiff federal financial civil penalty. Civil penalties for carrying weapons can cost the person as much as $15,000.
“This is a very busy travel period and bringing an illegal item to the checkpoint slows down the checkpoint line,” explained John Essig, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “Responsible gun owners know where their firearms are at all times and they know not to bring them to a security checkpoint. Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.”
TSA has details on how to properly travel with a gun posted on its website.
Officials say bringing a gun to an airport checkpoint also carries a federal civil penalty because TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a gun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on the circumstances. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. Additionally, if a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck, that person will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
WATCH NEXT: