Check your bags: TSA warns about leaving guns, hammers and saws in your carry-on
A 56-year-old Wake Forest man was carrying a loaded .40-caliber Springfield handgun and 13 bullets when he was stopped at the TSA checkpoint at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Wednesday morning.
It was the 14th gun that Transportation Security Administration officers have taken from passengers headed to catch a flight at RDU this year, putting the airport on a pace to surpass last year’s total of 66. Nationwide, the number of guns seized at airports has risen steadily over the last decade, from 926 in 2008 to 4,239 last year, says Sari Koshetz, spokeswoman for the TSA.
“Year over year, we keep setting records,” Koshetz said at RDU on Wednesday. “It’s both disturbing and dangerous.”
But guns are a tiny fraction of the items that TSA officers stop from going through the checkpoint. Koshetz stood next to a large plastic bin full of hammers, screw drivers, knives, wrenches, power drills and hundreds of other sharp or blunt objects that could be used as weapons in the wrong hands. All of them had been found at the RDU checkpoint just this year.
“If for some reason you need this saw on your trip, it can’t be in the cabin with you,” she said, holding up a handsaw. “You would not want the person sitting next to you on the plane to have this saw in their possession.”
The TSA holds press conferences like this one periodically to remind people to be aware of what’s in their carry-on bags and to either put items likely to be seized into their checked luggage or leave them at home. While some passengers may mistakenly think it’s OK to bring brass knuckles or a pocket knife with them on the plane, many simply didn’t realize they had left the items in their bag after an earlier car trip.
“So please, unpack before you pack to go to the airport,” Koshetz said.
The TSA screens about 18,000 passengers a day at RDU in the winter. With the coming of spring break and summer travel season, that number will grow to about 20,000, many of them infrequent fliers who may not be aware of what’s allowed on a plane or who haven’t used their bags to fly in a long time.
Passengers who are caught with a forbidden item are given a choice to put it in their car or to check their bag, but most, perhaps pressed for time, choose to give it up. There’s no fine or criminal charge for most items like these.
But guns are different. Police will confiscate a gun and determine whether the passenger should be arrested. Options range from a civil citation to a felony charge, depending on the circumstances, and the passenger will almost certainly be fined. The man found with a gun Wednesday was cited with a misdemeanor and allowed to catch his flight, though his gun remained with police, Koshetz said.
The man had been enrolled in TSA’s Precheck program, meaning he had submitted to an in-person background check and had his fingerprints taken in exchange for faster trips through security. His membership in the program has been revoked, Koshetz said.
It is possible to fly with a firearm, but it must be unloaded and in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage. Passengers must let the airline know about the firearm or ammunition when checking the bag at the ticket counter. For more information, go to www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition.
Restrictions on liquids, gels, aerosols and creams in carry-on bags also remain in place. Each passenger can bring containers no more than 3.4 ounces in size in a quart-sized clear plastic bag and must have it out and placed in a screening bin at the checkpoint.
For information about what you can and cannot bring on an airplane, go to www.tsa.gov/travel/.
This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Check your bags: TSA warns about leaving guns, hammers and saws in your carry-on."
