TSA: Man Who ‘Forgot' He Was Carrying Loaded Gun Arrested at Newark Airport Checkpoint

A Philadelphia man was arrested in Newark Liberty International Airport after officers caught him with a loaded gun at a security checkpoint -- a gun he said he "forgot" he was carrying, the Transportation Security Administration announced Thursday.

A TSA officer allegedly stopped the Havertown, Pennsylvania, man with a 9mm gun loaded with seven bullets, including one in the chamber, inside his carry-on bag on Wednesday.  The handgun was apparently spotted when the carry-on bag entered a checkpoint X-ray unit. Port Authority Police were alerted, confiscated the weapon and arrested the man on weapons charges.  

The man subsequently told officials that he forgot that he had his loaded gun with him, according to TSA.

“Claiming to forget that you have a loaded gun with you is inexcusable. This is an accident waiting to happen,” Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey, said in a statement. “If you own a gun you need to know where it is at all times.”

Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can go into thousands of dollars. Passengers are allowed to travel with firearms in checked baggages only if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Guns are absolutely not permitted to be carried onto planes. Checked firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition, according to TSA guidelines.