CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Transportation Security Administration officers have detected 100 guns at Charlotte Douglas International Airport so far this year, the agency announced.
The 100th gun was detected on Tuesday, Oct. 22, as officers stopped a man from carrying the loaded weapon onto a plane. The .38-caliber pistol and a magazine with eight rounds were found in the man's carry-on bag, TSA said. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police were called to the airport and the 64-year-old man was cited on a state charge.
The number of guns found by TSA at Charlotte Douglas is slightly up from previous years. TSA officers found 96, 96 and 82 guns through Oct. 23 each of the past three years, respectively.
“In addition to the serious safety risk these incidents pose, they can also slow down the screening process for all passengers when we’re forced to temporarily close down a lane as a result of the firearm detection,” Beth Walker, TSA’s federal security director at Charlotte Douglas, said.
A typical first offense for carrying a loaded gun into a TSA checkpoint is a $3,000 fine and can go as high as $15,000. This applies to travelers with or without concealed carry permits, as guns can't be carried onto planes. If someone with TSA PreCheck is caught with a gun at a checkpoint, they'll lose their TSA PreCheck privilege.
Passengers can carry guns on planes if they're in a checked bag and unloaded. All firearms must be packed in a locked, hard-sided case separate from any ammunition and declared at the airline check-in counter.