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The incident involving a man from Fairfield County happened on Tuesday, April 5 after the Town of Fairfield resident was busted with a .40 caliber gun loaded with 10 bullets attempting to board a flight at the White Plains airport.
According to TSA, an officer spotted the handgun on the checkpoint X-ray machine’s monitor as the man’s belongings entered the X-ray unit.
TSA alerted the Westchester County Sheriff’s Department, which responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the gun, and detained the man for questioning before arresting him on a weapons charge, officials said.
In addition to being arrested, the man - whose name has not been released - also faces a federal financial penalty for bringing a gun to an airport security checkpoint.
According to TSA, "guns can be transported on a flight if they are unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided case and declared to the airline.
“The airline will be sure that the gun travels with checked baggage in the belly of the plane, never in the cabin of the plane,” they noted. “Additionally, replica firearms also are prohibited in carry-on baggage and also must be transported in checked luggage.”
At the airport during the check-in process, a passenger must go to the airline ticket counter to declare the firearm, ammunition, and any firearm parts.
“Our officers are good at preventing prohibited items and deadly weapons from getting past the checkpoints and people who try to bring a gun onto a flight will pay a stiff price,” Robert Duffy, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport said. “I can assure you that the civil penalty will be costly. If you own a firearm, pack it correctly for transport in checked baggage or leave it at home.”
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