Loaded Gun Found And Confiscated At Buffalo-Niagara Airport

A loaded handgun was found in a carry-on bag at the Buffalo-Niagara airport. 

The handgun was located by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Thursday, making it the second gun found at a security checkpoint in the Buffalo-Niagara airport this year. 

The .380 caliber gun was in possession of a Silver Creek man, which is the same kind of handgun found in a carry-on bag earlier in the year by a TSA officer at the Buffalo-Niagara Airport.

Reminder: attempting to carry a gun through an airport security checkpoint is illegal, whether the gun is loaded or not. You may have a permit to conceal and carry, but you cannot take that gun through the security checkpoint.

The TSA Federal Security Director, Bart Johnson, spoke with News 4 after the situation.

Johnson told News 4, “My advice is to know what you are bringing to a TSA checkpoint to ensure you have no prohibited or illegal items with you.”

The NFTA responded immediately to reports of a gun at the checkpoint on Thursday where the Silver Creek man surrendered the weapon, which was later destroyed.

According to a February report from the GTSC Homeland Security, 86 percent of the guns that have been caught by TSA this year have been loaded, which is a scary thought. Think about how much that number has probably changed since the report came out in February. 
If a passenger wants to travel with a firearm, it must be unloaded and packed in a checked bag and declared as such at your airline ticket counter before the TSA checkpoint. You can read more about the TSA guidelines here.