ROANOKE, Va. – Officers stopped a Salem man from taking a handgun onto a plane at Roanoke’s airport on Thursday, according to the TSA.
They found a .22-caliber handgun, loaded with five bullets, in the man’s carry-on bag during a TSA checkpoint screening.
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Airport police confiscated the weapon after being alerted by the TSA agents.
“Guns are prohibited in the cabins of airplanes. It is a law that has been in place long before TSA even existed,” said Federal Security Director for the airport Chuck Burke. “Our TSA officers are very skilled at detecting firearms and other prohibited items.”
A typical first offense for carrying a loaded handgun into a checkpoint is $4,100 and can go as high as $13,669 depending on any mitigating circumstances, according to the TSA.