by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:07 AM ET, Tue November 7, 2017
A man was arrested at a Washington D.C. airport last week when security officials discovered a loaded handgun in his carry-on bag.
According to The Associated Press, 36-year-old Carl H. Berry II was going through a security checkpoint at Reagan National Airport Thursday. Transportation Security Administration agents discovered the gun while looking at an X-ray machine.
Officers from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority stopped Berry and found a 9mm handgun loaded with seven bullets, including one in the chamber. Police confiscated the gun and charged him with carrying a dangerous weapon in an airport terminal.
TSA officials revealed to AP that many incidents involving unreported guns in luggage are unintentional, and Berry told police that he forgot the weapon was in his carry-on bag as he entered the airport.
"Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions," a TSA spokesperson said in a statement. "In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items."
Berry was released on a summons, but no flights were impacted by the incident.
Weapons being discovered at airports are an all-too-common occurrence. Not only were 3,391 guns discovered in carry-on bags across the United States in 2016, but there was even an incident at Indianapolis International Airport during October when a Federal Air Marshal misplaced his weapon, causing delays at the facility.
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