LINTHICUM, Md. — A missile launcher was confiscated from an active military member’s checked luggage Monday at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the Transportation Security Administration said.
The missile launcher was spotted by a TSA officer scanning luggage Monday morning. The officer immediately contacted airport police, who found the Jacksonville, Texas resident the bag belonged to. The man said he was a member of the military on active duty traveling home from Kuwait. The man wanted to bring the weapon home as a souvenir.
TSA determined the weapon was “not a live device,” the agency said. It was confiscated and given to the state fire Marshall for safe disposal. The man was then allowed to catch his flight.
The TSA said military weapons are not permitted in checked or carry-on baggage. Guns are only permitted when properly stored in checked luggage, never in carry-on bags.
So far in 2019, TSA has confiscated 20 guns from traveler’s carry-on luggage at BWI,leaving the airport on pace to find 35 such weapons this year, a 60 percent increase over 2018.
