9mm handgun confiscated at Reagan National Airport checkpoint (VA)

[Bruce Jackson]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/9mm-handgun-confiscated-at-reagan-national-airport-checkpoint/2012/10/09/ac24058e-1228-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html

http://tinyurl.com/9gvvn43

9mm handgun confiscated at Reagan National Airport checkpoint
By Ashley Halsey III, Published: October 9

A Fairfax man who authorities say mistakenly left a loaded 9mm
semiautomatic pistol in his carry-on luggage was detained when he
tried to pass through a security checkpoint at Reagan National
Airport, officials said Tuesday.

An X-ray machine detected the weapon holstered inside a leather
carrying case that also contained a second clip of ammunition when the
man sent his carry-on luggage through a checkpoint machine Friday
morning.

Elwood Kirkman, 59, was briefly detained by airport police and charged
with a misdemeanor weapons offense under Virginia law. The gun was
confiscated, but Kirkman was released and allowed to continue his trip
to Dallas, the Transportation Security Administration said.

The announcement Tuesday morning was the agency’s first disclosure of
the incident, which occurred five days earlier.

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the incident was not related to
terrorism. “If there’s a nexus to terrorism, we’ll be sure to let
everyone know,” she said. “Just a forgetful passenger. With that said,
passengers who own guns need to know where the guns are at all times.”

This was the second time in two months that X-ray machines have
discovered weapons at a Washington-area airport. In September, a Mount
Airy woman bound for China was charged with a misdemeanor after the
TSA said she attempted to carry two “artfully concealed” combat knives
in her carry-on luggage through a checkpoint at Dulles International
Airport.

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