LINTHICUM — Transportation Security Administration officers have found their eighth gun in eight weeks at a checkpoint in Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, far outpacing last year.
The gun was discovered Feb. 17, the TSA said in a statement. If the gun-a-week pace of 2019 continues, security officers will encounter more than twice as many weapons as were found last year. In 2018, 22 guns were confiscated at the airport.
A 9mm handgun loaded with 11 bullets, including one in the chamber, was discovered as a Germantown man’s bags passed through a security checkpoint X-ray. A TSA officer spotted the gun and alerted Maryland Transportation Authority Police. The man was cited with state weapons charges, and the gun was confiscated.
On average in 2018, 11.6 guns were found each day nationally at airports, marking a 7 percent increase over the year prior, the TSA said. The vast majority of those weapons were found at security checkpoints, and more than a third had a bullet in the chamber, TSA said.
Individuals who bring weapons to an airport can face up to a $13,000 civil fine.
