PHILADELPHIA — A woman from Western New York was stopped by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Philadelphia after officers discovered she had a loaded handgun.
Authorities say the woman from Albion was at Philadelphia International Airport on Saturday, September 12, when she went through the checkpoint X-ray machine and the gun was spotted by the machine.
A .22 caliber handgun loaded with nine bullets, including one in the chamber, was recovered by TSA officers and confiscated.
“This gun was caught by our TSA officers just one day after the nation observed the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our homeland,” said William L. Myers, TSA’s Assistant Federal Security Director for the Philadelphia International Airport in a press release.
“The anniversary was marked by extensive media coverage and the date itself is seared into the minds of Americans. Yet one day later this traveler did not realize that she was not allowed to bring her loaded gun onto her flight. The fact that guns are not allowed to be carried onto aircraft is a law that has been in place decades before TSA existed,” he said. “This individual now faces stiff Federal financial civil penalties for her mistake.”
TSA says that first offense for carrying a loaded handgun into a checkpoint is $4,100 and can go as high as $13,669 depending on any mitigating circumstances.