WINDSOR LOCKS — A Niantic man was taken into police custody after he allegedly tried to take a loaded handgun onto a plane Saturday.
Officials said that TSA officers found the gun in the man’s carry on bag in the X-ray machine.
State Police were notified and the man was taken into custody. The suspect was carrying a 9 mm handgun that was loaded with 10 bullets. He is facing weapon charges.
This is the fifth handgun caught at Bradley this year.
Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality.
Nationwide last year, 4,239 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country, averaging about 11.6 firearms per day, approximately a 7% increase nationally in firearm discoveries from the total of 3,957 detected in 2017. Eighty-six percent of firearms detected at checkpoints last year were loaded and nearly 34% had a bullet in the chamber.
