APPLETON — TSA officers at Appleton International Airport stopped a man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a plane Monday.
Around 2 p.m., a TSA officer noticed the .380 caliber handgun in a local man's carry-on bag at a checkpoint. An Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department deputy soon arrived, confiscated the gun and escorted the man away from the TSA checkpoint.
A typical first offense for carrying a loaded handgun into a checkpoint is $4,100, and can go as high as $13,669, according to TSA.
“Our TSA officers remain vigilant during this pandemic and firearms like this can cause unnecessary delays and possibly missed flights,” said Wisconsin’s TSA Federal Security Director Mark Lendvay in a statement Tuesday.
“Unfortunately there is an increase in firearms being found at the airport security checkpoints and passengers are reminded to double-check their belongings prior to arrival," according to Lendva.
