Three US passengers stopped from bringing loaded guns onto festive flights

For most of us, traveling home for the holidays involves bringing clothes, presents and possibly some food to add to the feast awaiting us. But three US travelers attempted to bring something else cross-country for the season of peace: loaded guns. The three were caught during the busy holiday travel period by TSA officers in separate incidents across the East Coast. On December 22, a Florida man was stopped at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania, after TSA staff detected a .380 caliber handgun in his luggage, loaded with no fewer than seven bullets. “The traveler claimed that he forgot that he had his loaded gun with him,” TSA said. Then on Christmas Eve, a woman from Maryland was stopped at DC’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after TSA staff noticed a 9mm gun loaded with six bullets in her carry-on. The gun – with pink paneling – was the 39th detected at the airport in 2023. That’s the highest number ever caught at Reagan – the previous record was 30 in a year, in 2021. The gun was detected by the X-ray machine at the security checkpoint, the TSA said in a statement, adding: “Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police confiscated the gun and cited the individual on a weapons charge.” The woman now faces a penalty of up to $15,000.<br/>