CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Despite signs at security checkpoints saying, "Firearms and firearm parts are not allowed through security checkpoints," police records indicate Charlotte's airport is on track to beat a record for the number of weapons discovered at airport security.
"They have been trending up. I think that's in part, due to more travel since the pandemic," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Captain Brian Trull told WCNC Charlotte.
More than 822,000 people are expected to travel through Charlotte Douglas International Airport through the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the airport's chief operating officer Jerome Woodard,
Dating back to October 23, WCNC Charlotte found at least seven recent CMPD incident reports involving the discovery of handguns.
A spokesperson for TSA sent an email to WCNC Charlotte explaining:
"TSA doesn't confiscate any items. Travelers have the option of stepping out of line and checking the item in their checked luggage that goes in belly of the plane, give item to non-traveler or placing it in their car. However, most travelers don't arrive at airport with enough time prior to their flight, so they end up voluntarily abandoning their items. These range in anything from knives, stun guns, pepper spray and oversized liquids."
Licensed gun owners can travel with their firearms so long as they are packed according to regulations.
Sheena Gatehouse, the supervisor for Mecklenburg County's District Attorney's Misdemeanor Unit, told WCNC Charlotte's Jane Monreal her team does prosecute in cases where firearms are seized at airport security checkpoints but only in incidents where law enforcement criminally charges the passenger.
"Locally, the violation is a misdemeanor for bringing a dangerous weapon on city property," Trull explained. "That's what my officers would handle. That would be the charge."
There are approximately 50 of those charges currently pending in Mecklenburg County, according to Gatehouse.
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.