STEWART AIRPORT – A Florida man was arrested on Sunday, July 17 after TSA officers prevented him from carrying a loaded handgun onto his flight at New York Stewart International Airport at Newburgh.
The handgun was loaded with seven bullets including one in the chamber.
A TSA officer spotted the gun on the checkpoint X-ray machine’s monitor as the man’s belongings entered the unit.
Federal officials alerted State Police who confiscated the gun and arrested the man. He also faces a stiff federal civil penalty for bringing a gun to an airport security checkpoint.
“This is the second gun that our TSA team has detected at Stewart Airport so far this month,” said Robert Duffy, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “Our officers are highly proficient at detecting guns and prohibited items from getting past the checkpoints and people who try to bring a gun onto a flight will pay a stiff price. The civil penalty will be costly. If you own a firearm, pack it correctly for transport in checked baggage or leave it at home.”
Guns can be transported on a flight if they are unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided case and declared to the airline. The airline will be sure the gun travels with checked baggage in the belly of the plane, never in the cabin of the plane. Replica firearms are also prohibited in carry-on baggage.
