ROANOKE, Va. – Authorities stopped a Floyd County woman at the TSA checkpoint at the Roanoke airport on Sunday when agents found a loaded handgun in her bag.
On Sunday, TSA officials detected a .357-caliber revolver in her carry-on bag and they immediately alerted the airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the weapon and cited the woman on weapons charges, according to the TSA.
The woman, from Willis, told officials that she learned that her flight was delayed so she put the gun into her handbag; however, when she returned to the airport, she said she forgot she still had it in her handbag.
The handgun was loaded with five bullets.
In addition to being cited by the police, she now faces a federal financial civil penalty for carrying a loaded gun to a TSA security checkpoint.
The fine for having a loaded firearm at an airport ranges from $3,000 $10,000 and a criminal referral, according to the TSA website.
This is the sixth firearm caught by the TSA at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport so far in 2021. Here’s a look at the number in previous years:
- 2017: 3
- 2018: 6
- 2019: 5
- 2020: 1
- 2021: 6
Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition
To find more information on traveling with a firearm, click here.