It’s legal to have a gun on an airplane. Just don’t try to carry it through a security checkpoint or pack it in your carry-on luggage.
The Transportation Security Administration found 33 firearms in carry-on bags at RDU through the first three months of the year. That’s up from 27 during the same period last year.
The increase isn’t surprising given the growing number of people traveling by plane. Still, with the busy summer travel season just ahead, the TSA is reminding people to check their bags before they leave for the airport.
“For the safety of the traveling public, I strongly urge all gun owners to double check the contents of their carry-on bags and ensure they know where their firearms are before traveling to the airport,” Jennifer Gordon, TSA’s security director at RDU, said in a statement.
When TSA agents spot a gun in an X-ray image, they stop the screening process and call airport police. Officers remove the bag from the X-ray machine, confiscate the weapon and determine whether to press charges. Options range from a civil citation to a felony charge, depending on the circumstances.
Travelers caught with a firearm at a TSA checkpoint also face a civil penalty. A typical first offense for carrying a loaded gun into a checkpoint is $3,000 and can go as high as $15,000, depending on the circumstances.
Of the 33 guns found at RDU so far this year, 32 were loaded, according to the TSA.
Most people who bring a gun to the airport likely didn’t do it on purpose, according to the agency. They grabbed a bag and started packing without remembering that they kept a firearm in a pocket or compartment.
“The number one excuse we hear is… ‘I didn’t realize I had a gun in my bag,’” TSA spokesman Daniel Velez wrote in an email. “Whether that’s true or not is anyone’s guess.”
Guns are more common in NC carry-on bags
Nationwide, TSA agents found 6,737 firearms in carry-on bags last year, or one for every 127,447 passengers they screened.
Guns are more common in North Carolina. The 236 found at the state’s airports was one for every 98,182 passengers the TSA screened.
The TSA will call the police regardless of whether you have a concealed weapons permit. Those permits don’t allow people to conceal a gun on a commercial airliner.
Gun parts, including magazines, clips and firing pins, also also prohibited in carry-on bags, as are replica firearms, including toys.
It is possible to fly with a firearm. But it must be unloaded and in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage. Passengers must let the airline know about the firearm or ammunition when checking the bag at the ticket counter.
For more information, go to www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition.