RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Virginia man has been citied for weapons charges after officials found a gun and a magazine with 12 bullets inside his carry-on bag at an airport security checkpoint, authorities said.
A Transportation Security Administration officer spotted the man’s weapon last week at Richmond International Airport and notified airport police, who confiscated the handgun and citied the man, the agency said in a news release. Authorities have not released his identity.
“Even though there have been fewer travelers this year as a result of the pandemic, we are seeing an uptick in the number of guns that passengers are bringing to the checkpoint,” Chuck Burke, the agency’s federal security director at the airport, said in the release.
The agency said 14 guns were caught at the airport’s checkpoint last year compared to 11 that have been confiscated so far in 2020.
Passengers can travel with firearms if it’s unloaded, placed in checked baggage and packed in a hard-sided case separately from the bullets, the release said. Travelers are not allowed to carry guns onto airplanes in carry-on bags.
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