by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:15 AM ET, Thu March 26, 2020
Despite the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, travelers are still taking loaded handguns into airports.
According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), security officers working at Logan International Airport in Boston on Tuesday noted something suspicious in a male traveler's carry-on bag.
When the agents pulled the luggage from the checkpoint X-ray machine, they discovered a 9mm handgun loaded with five bullets. TSA officials called on the Massachusetts State Police to confiscate the weapon and question the man.
The male traveler from Alabama said he did not know he was in possession of a loaded gun and blamed a co-worker for putting the weapon inside his bag before he left for the airport. The man was subsequently cited on state weapons charges.
While passengers are permitted to travel with firearms properly stored and claimed in checked baggage, travelers are never allowed to board an airplane with a weapon in a carry-on bag, regardless of whether they have a concealed firearm permit or not.
Last year, a record-breaking total of 4,432 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the United States. The five-percent increase resulted in an average of 12.1 firearms found each day, with 87 percent of them being loaded.
TSA officials also recently announced its PreCheck program reached a milestone of 10 million members, more than six months ahead of the October 1 deadline.
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