Maryland Woman Faces Hefty Fine After TSA Seizes Loaded Gun at Airport on Christmas Eve

Incident marked the 39th gun that TSA checkpoint officers detected at Virginia’s Ronald Reagan National Airport in 2023.

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent screens carry-on baggage at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 10, 2022. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Officers with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Virginia’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport confiscated a loaded handgun from a woman attempting to take it onto a flight on Christmas Eve, according to officials.

The unidentified woman, from Bethesda, Maryland, had packed the 9mm gun loaded with six bullets in her carry-on bag, the agency said in a statement.

X-ray machines at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is located in Arlington County, discovered the gun as the woman walked through the security checkpoint, according to the TSA.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police confiscated the gun and cited the woman on a weapons charge.

She now faces a penalty of up to $15,000 from the TSA.

Guns aren’t permitted through the security checkpoint at airports even if owners carry concealed gun carry permits.

The latest incident marked the 39th gun that TSA officers at Ronald Reagan National Airport detected at the checkpoints in 2023.

That figure surpassed the previous high of 30 guns confiscated at the airport in 2021, officials said. They noted a spike in the number of travelers bringing guns to airports across the country in recent years.

“Bringing a gun to an airport security checkpoint was no way to enter the holiday,” said John Busch, the TSA’s federal security director for the airport.

“There’s naughty and there’s nice at this time of year, and the nice way to transport your firearm is to make sure it is unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case, and declared at your airline check-in counter. The naughty way is to bring it to a checkpoint.

“This traveler was cited by the police and will likely receive a federal civil penalty of thousands of dollars. Responsible gun owners know where their guns are at all times, and they know not to bring them to an airport checkpoint.”

Lawmaker Arrested Over Unregistered Firearm

According to the agency, 6,542 firearms were caught at airport security checkpoints across the United States in 2022, with officials anticipating a new annual record to be set by the end of this year.

In October, Washington state Sen. Jeff Wilson was arrested and charged with possession of an unregistered firearm at the airport in Hong Kong after authorities discovered a gun in his carry-on bag that wasn’t licensed there.

Mr. Wilson was released on a bail of 20,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $2,556) two days after his arrest.

At the time, the Republican’s office stated that he had flown to Hong Kong from Portland International Airport, where he had passed through airport security, and baggage screeners at the U.S. airport had failed to detect the gun, which wasn’t loaded.

While the pistol, reportedly a .38-caliber revolver, wasn’t registered in Hong Kong, it’s properly registered in Washington state, and Mr. Wilson holds a concealed pistol license.

The lawmaker stressed that the incident was an accident but said officials at Portland International Airport should’ve spotted the gun in his carry-on bag.

“I should have never been out of security in America,” Mr. Wilson said in a statement at the time.

Following the October incident, TSA stated that it had launched an investigation and that it took the situation “very seriously.”

The charges against Mr. Wilson were later dropped by a Hong Kong court, according to a CBS News report.