ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — The right to bear arms stops short of TSA checkpoints at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport where just last week, authorities made their tenth such discovery this year.
“Firearms are strictly prohibited from being in their carry on bag,” said TSA Federal Security Director-Maryland Christopher Murgia.
TSA discovered a record 35 firearms last year, and as the number of people flying is returning to pre-pandemic levels, they want to remind them of the correct way to travel with their guns.
“You put your unloaded firearm into the hard-sided case,” said TSA Spokesperson Lisa Farbstein, as she displayed the proper procedure with a fake handgun.
Then you take the locked case in your checked luggage to the airline check-in counter where you are required to make them aware of it for safe transport.
“TSA officers are remaining vigilant all these years, two decades after what happened on 9/11,” said Farbstein, “Keep in mind, TSA has been here for about 21 years, but it’s not like you could bring a gun on a plane before TSA existed. This has been in place for decades.”
If you bring a gun to a checkpoint, the TSA can levy fines of up to $15,000 and you could be charged criminally. That goes for gun owners with concealed carry permits, military and law enforcement members as well.
“You know, all these people are showing up at our checkpoints with firearms and they tell us that they forgot they had their gun with them and more than 80 percent of those guns are typically loaded,” said Farbstein, “So they’re telling us that they forgot they had their loaded gun with them, but when we ask where their wallet is, their cell phone is or where their keys are, they seem to know where they are. They just don’t seem to know where their deadly weapon is.”
