CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport prevented a Cattaraugus woman from bringing a loaded firearm on to her flight on Wednesday.
TSA officers spotted the .380 caliber handgun in an X-ray machine and immediately alerted Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) police.
Police took control of the weapon and detained the woman for further inquiry.
This is the seventh gun found by TSA officers at the Buffalo Airport, according to Bart Johnson, TSA Federal Security director for Upstate New York. It is tied with 2018 for most guns caught by TSA at the airport in a year.
People can travel with firearms on airplanes as long as the weapon is packed in a checked bag, unloaded, packed in hard-sided locked case and packed separately from ammunition. The weapon must also be declared at the airline ticket counter. A concealed carry permit does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto a plane.
TSA can issues a federal civil penalty to people traveling the a gun or gun parts, which can include fines up to thousands of dollars.
