WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Note: The video is from July 11.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday issued a colorful reminder that trying to carry a handgun through a security checkpoint is illegal.
"The monthly calendar has flipped to October, and the fall colors are everywhere you look — fall festivals, fall farmer’s markets and fall leaves on the trees," the TSA said. "At Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, TSA officers see colors all year long. Unfortunately, those are too often the colors of firearms."
While most firearms the TSA agents encounter are black, travelers sometimes attempt to carry more colorful weapons onboard, the TSA said.
So far this year, TSA officers intercepted 5,028 firearms at airport security checkpoints, the agency said. This total represents an average of 18.3 firearms detected per day at TSA checkpoints, more than 93% of which were loaded. Many of them are colorful, although most of them are black.
Last year, eight incidents were reported at Harrisburg International Airport. There have been at least two incidents at the airport this year.
“When TSA officers detect a firearm among a traveler’s carry-on items via the X-ray unit, the conveyor belt comes to a stop and law enforcement officers are contacted. Police then remove the firearm from the X-ray machine because we do not want our officers handling firearms as that is an accident waiting to happen,” says Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s Federal Security Director for Central Virginia.
“Meanwhile, the checkpoint lane has come to a temporary stand-still until the situation is resolved, thus slowing down other passengers from reaching their gates,” says Scott T. Johnson, TSA Federal Security Director for Washington Dulles International Airport.
Law enforcement officials decide whether to issue a criminal citation or arrest the traveler. TSA officials also have the right to issue a civil financial penalty that typically runs into the thousands of dollars for that individual.
“Travelers may travel with their firearms if they pack them properly. They should be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided case and then taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared,” says John Busch, TSA’s Federal Security Director for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “At that point, the airline will ensure that the firearm is transported in the belly of the plane where nobody has access to it during a flight.”
TSA has details on how to travel with a firearm and ammunition on its website.