Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials are concerned about the frequency that they are seeing travelers carry handguns to security checkpoints at Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) and Washington Dulles International (IAD) airports. Most of those guns are found to be loaded.
“The most common excuse we hear is that someone forgot that they had their gun with them,” said Scott T. Johnson, TSA’s Federal Security Director for both airports. “That’s no excuse. If you own a firearm, you need to know where it is at all times. It’s part of being a responsible gun owner.”
The TSA teams at both Washington area airports detected a combined 49 guns at the security checkpoints in 2021 and so far they’ve caught eight more guns this year. TSA officers at IAD have stopped two guns and officers at DCA have caught six guns so far in 2022.
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, placed in a hard-sided locked case, and packed separately from ammunition. Then the locked case must be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.
Read more about the correct way to travel with firearms at TSA
