TSA stops passengers from boarding with loaded guns at Wichita, Manhattan airports

Police confiscated two guns after the loaded weapons were found during the C-ray screening process at two Kansas airports, officials said.

The guns were intercepted at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport on Sunday and Manhattan Regional Airport on Monday, Carrie Harmon, a Transportation Security Administration spokesperson, said in a release. TSA officials discovered a loaded North American .22 caliber revolver at the ICT X-ray screening checkpoint and a loaded 9MM Beretta 92FS during screening at MHK.

Local law enforcement interviewed the passengers and took possession of the weapons, the TSA release said. Any criminal charges are up to local law enforcement.

This was the first gun intercepted at the Manhattan airport this year, the TSA said. The TSA found no firearms at MHK last year.

The revolver was the 12th gun discovered at the Wichita airport so far this year, the TSA said. Four guns were found at ICT last year.

“So far this year, we’ve found three times the number of firearms at the ICT checkpoint than in all of 2017,” TSA Kansas Federal Security Director Jay Brainard said in the release. “If you want to travel with a firearm, it can only be transported in a checked bag.”

Guns, gun parts, ammunition and realistic replicas are not allowed through security checkpoints but can travel in checked bags, the TSA said. Firearms must be packed in a locked, hard-sided container. An average of 11 guns per day were found in carry-on bags nationwide last year, a total of 3,957, the TSA said.

Up to a $13,000 civil penalty can be levied by the TSA against a passenger who brings a firearm to the checkpoint, the release said. It did not say if a penalty will be levied in either case.