By Forum Staff
A Florida woman was arrested by police on Saturday after Transportation Security Administration officers at LaGuardia Airport detected her handgun and ammunition artfully concealed among the woman’s carry-on items.
TSA officers removed a .25-caliber handgun that had been shoved inside a boot; seven bullets that were hidden inside a package of make-up wipes; and a gun magazine concealed inside a sock during routine checkpoint screening operations.
It was the fifth gun that TSA officers have detected at the airport checkpoints so far this year. In 2022 TSA personnel caught 11 guns at LGA checkpoints. In 2023, nine firearms were confiscated at the same airport.
Photo Courtesy of TSA
TSA officers removed a .25-caliber handgun that had been shoved inside a boot.
The weapons and ammunition were caught as the woman, a resident of Hollywood, Fla., entered the security checkpoint. The X-ray unit alerted on the items concealed in her carry-on bag. TSA officials notified the Port Authority Police who confiscated the gun, ammunition and gun magazine and arrested the woman on a weapons charge.
In addition to the citation by airport police, this individual now faces a stiff financial civil penalty. Civil penalties for carrying weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.
Bringing guns to checkpoints is a serious security violation and this individual can expect to receive a federal fine that will be in the thousands of dollars because it is obvious by the way the woman attempted to conceal her gun and ammunition that she knew that firearms are not permitted through a checkpoint, otherwise there was no reason for her to attempt to conceal the gun and bullets in the manner in which she attempted to do so.
