Even If Your Gun Is Pink, the TSA Will Take It (And Arrest You)
Even if a loaded handgun is pink and petite, it won't make it through the TSA checkpoint.
That's the hard-learned lesson one Virginia woman is taking away from her arrest at Richmond International Airport (RIC) on Monday. The woman, who has not been identified, was packing a hot pink 9mm hand gun loaded with one pink-tipped bullet in her carry-on. Transportation Security Administration agents confiscated the weapon and found eight other pink-tipped bullets in her bag.
The colorful semi-automatic was picked up on the security checkpoint's X-ray machine, leading TSA officers to call airport police who took the gun and the woman into custody on criminal weapons charges. Passengers who bring guns (loaded or unloaded) to TSA checkpoints could be charged up to a $13,000 fine in addition to an arrest.
The TSA media office dubbed the gun "prohibited in pink" on Twitter.
According to TSA guidelines, passengers may only transport unloaded firearms in locked, hard-sided containers in checked baggage. Flyers must also declare the firearm and/or ammunition to the airline when checking the bag.
TSA tracks the number of firearms confiscated at checkpoints each week. The numbers from the most recent week available, April 23-29, 2018, show the TSA confiscated 94 firearms from carry-on bags around the US. In 2017, TSA found a record number of firearms at checkpoints: 3,957 in the course of the year.
H/T: The Washington Post
