Transportation Security Administration seizes three guns at Reagan, Dulles airports

Forgetful fliers keep running into gun trouble, with security having seized three loaded handguns in three recent incidents at Washington-area airports.

On Sunday, Transportation Security Administration agents halted two out-of-state fliers before they could board with handguns in their carry-on luggage at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

A Florida man was stopped with a loaded .380-caliber handgun; the number of bullets in the gun at the time of the seizure was not mentioned. Another traveler, an Arkansas woman, was stopped with a .22 caliber handgun with five bullets loaded.

On Monday, TSA agents at Washington Dulles International Airport caught a Frederick County, Maryland, man with a 9mm handgun, loaded with four bullets, in his carry-on luggage.

In all three incidents, X-rays helped the TSA catch the firearms; Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police officers then came, safely secured and seized the guns, and wrote each person up on weapons charges.

Until the police arrived, however, all passenger screenings had to come to a halt, to be certain the firearm was properly secured.

“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,” said Scott Johnson, the TSA security director at Dulles.

The maximum penalty for bringing a loaded handgun in carry-on luggage was raised to $14,950 in December 2022, after a record 6,542 guns were seized at 262 of the TSA’s 430 checkpoints nationwide.

Of those firearms, 88% were loaded.

The TSA noted its concern at how many travelers caught with guns cite forgetfulness as the reason they had the firearm on them in the airport.

“I am very concerned that most people who are stopped at TSA checkpoints with a firearm ‘forgot it was in the bag.’ And so loaded and unsecured firearms — with an oblivious owner — were near all the other travelers,” said John Busch, the TSA security director at Reagan National.

Thus far in 2023, TSA agents at Reagan National have intercepted 16 guns, after having taken 29 firearms in 2022. At Dulles, 11 guns have been seized this year, with 25 having been found in carry-on bags in 2022.