Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Richmond International Airport prevented a Henrico, Va., man from bringing an antique revolver onto a flight early this morning, March 11.
The .22 caliber handgun was caught as the man entered the security checkpoint. The X-ray unit alerted on the carry-on bag, which required a closer inspection by TSA officials. The firearm was removed by the Richmond Airport Police, who confiscated the weapon and cited the man on a weapons charge. TSA does not confiscate firearms caught at checkpoints, law enforcement does.
The man also faces a stiff financial civil penalty for bringing a gun to a TSA security checkpoint. The penalty for carrying weapons can reach as high as $15,000, depending on the circumstances.
“I’d expect to see a gun like this in a western movie, but alas a traveler brought this antique firearm to the checkpoint this morning. It’s an actual functioning deadly weapon and as such needs to be packed like any other gun,” said Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “It doesn’t matter how old a gun is. It is still prohibited from being carried onto a flight. To transport a firearm, it needs to be unloaded and packed in a locked hard-sided case. Then it needs to be declared at the airline check-in counter to be stored in the belly of the plane during the flight.”
Last year TSA officers at Richmond intercepted 17 guns at the security checkpoints. Ninety-four percent of those guns were loaded. Wednesday’s gun catch was the third of 2024. All three have been loaded.
In 2023, TSA officers detected 6,735 guns at checkpoints across the country of which 93 percent were loaded.
Firearms caught by TSA officers at Richmond International Airport checkpoints, 2018 to 2024
| Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024
As of 3/11/24 |
| Guns caught at Richmond International Airport (RIC) checkpoints | 14 | 14 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 17 | 4 |
