TSA Alarmed About Frequency Of Guns Carried To Norfolk International Airport Checkpoints
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials are concerned about the frequency that they are seeing travelers carry handguns to security checkpoints at Norfolk International Airport (ORF). Most of those guns are found to be loaded, according to the TSA.
“The most common excuse we hear is that someone forgot that they had their gun with them,” said Jeffrey Horowitz, TSA’s Assistant Federal Security Director for the airport. “That’s no excuse. If you own a firearm, you need to know where it is at all times. It’s part of being a responsible gun owner.”
The TSA team at ORF detected a 23 guns at the security checkpoints in 2021 and so far they’ve caught two more guns this year.
“When an individual shows up at a checkpoint with a firearm, the checkpoint lane comes to a standstill until the police resolve the incident. Thus, guns at checkpoints can delay travelers from getting to their gates,” the TSA said in a statement.
According to the TSA, passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, placed in a hard-sided locked case, and packed separately from ammunition. Then the locked case must be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.