Woman found with loaded gun at DC-area airport on Christmas Eve

A woman was stopped by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Christmas Eve after a loaded handgun was detected in her bag.

The 9mm gun, which was loaded with six bullets, was found among the woman’s carry-on items when going through security at the Arlington, Va., airport just outside Washington, D.C., according to TSA.

The woman, from Bethesda, Md., has not been identified.

“Bringing a gun to an airport security checkpoint was no way to enter the holiday,” John Busch, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport, said in a statement.

“There’s naughty and there’s nice at this time of year and the nice way to transport your firearm is to make sure it is unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case and declared at your airline check-in counter.”

Busch said the woman was cited by police and will “likely receive a federal civil penalty of thousands of dollars.” Civil penalties can reach a maximum $15,000, TSA said.

TSA emphasized that travelers can face penalties regardless of whether they have concealed gun carry permits, and travelers with TSA PreCheck who bring a gun to a checkpoint will lose their privileges.

Authorities detected nearly 40 guns at security checkpoints at the airport in 2023, the most guns discovered in a single year, according to TSA. The previous record for the airport was set in 2021 with 30 guns detected at security.

The detection “follows a national trend in seeing a spike in the number of travelers who are bringing guns to airport checkpoints across the country,” TSA said.

TSA said 6,542 firearms were caught nationwide at security checkpoints in 2022, and more than 6,000 handguns have been stopped by the agency across the country this year.