US: Democrats push for TSA crackdown on guns after GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn brought handgun to airport

Two House Democrats urged the TSA on Thursday to crack down on the growing threat of firearms at airports, days after a Republican congressman was caught bringing a gun to a TSA checkpoint. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., was cited Tuesday on a misdemeanor criminal charge after the TSA intercepted a loaded 9 mm handgun as it passed through a security checkpoint at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Just over a year earlier, Cawthorn reportedly had an unloaded Glock 9 mm handgun taken from him at another North Carolina airport after TSA workers found the weapon in his carry-on bag. A criminal defense lawyer said after the latest incident that carrying a gun at the Charlotte Douglas airport is a violation of city ordinances that “more often than not” leads to arrest. In Thursday’s letter, the House Democrats urged TSA Administrator David Pekoske to “act decisively to ensure repeat offenders like Rep. Cawthorn face the full extent” of the agency’s “enforcement actions.” “Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle agree that those who break the law and endanger the safety of other passengers — and especially repeat offenders such as Rep. Cawthorn — must be held to account,” read the letter from Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and transportation subcommittee Chair Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J.<br/>