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TSA officers detected the compact 9mm Smith & Wesson weapon in the man’s carry-on bag as he entered a security checkpoint at JFK, the Transportation Security Administration’s Lisa Farbstein said.
The gun was loaded was 10 bullets, she said.
Port Authority police seized the gun and arrested the traveler.
In addition to criminal charges, he also faces federal penalties that can reach $15,000, authorities said.
“We are seeing travel volume through our security checkpoints during the July 4th travel period of approximately 100,000 passengers per day here at JFK International,” said John Essig, TSA’s federal security director for the Queens airport. “This is no time to be carrying prohibited or illegal items.
“It’s busy out there and when someone brings a prohibited or illegal item such as a firearm to an airport security checkpoint, it slows things down for everyone else,” Essig noted.
Not only that, he said – a loaded gun at an airport is “an accident waiting to happen.”
Last week, a Middlesex County man tried bringing a loaded gun aboard a flight at Newark Airport on what was the country’s busiest travel day ever, authorities said. READ MORE HERE....
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