Second Gun Confiscated In Two Days At BWI Airport

HANOVER, MD — Twice in two days, Transportation Security Administration officers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) detected a handgun at one of the security checkpoints.

A man from Pasadena was found to have an unloaded 9 mm handgun in his carry-on bag Jan. 22. A TSA officer spied the gun as it was traveling through the checkpoint X-ray machine. Maryland Transportation Authority Police were notified, arrived at the checkpoint, confiscated the firearm and detained the man for questioning before arresting him on weapons charges. He told officials that he forgot he had his gun with him.

On Jan. 21, a man from Prince George County was found with a loaded 9 mm handgun at the airport. Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality.

Nationwide last year, 4,432 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country, averaging about 12.1 firearms per day, which is approximately a 5 percent increase nationally in firearm discoveries from the total of 4,239 detected in 2018. Eighty-seven percent of firearms detected at checkpoints last year were loaded.