A Buffalo, Minn., man who works for an airline was charged after a loaded gun was found final week in his carry-on bag at Minneapolis-St. Paul Worldwide Airport, in keeping with the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and police.

TSA officers found the firearm on the south safety checkpoint in Terminal 1 simply after 5 p.m. Thursday after the worker was randomly chosen for screening. MSP Airport Police responded to the checkpoint after a TSA officer detected the picture of a handgun on an X-ray display through the screening, authorities stated Tuesday.

Airport Police subsequently charged Jordan Aloysius Carlson, 22, with presenting a prohibited merchandise at checkpoint screening. Carlson was booked and launched Thursday, and police stated the investigation was ongoing.

Whereas TSA described Carlson as an “airline worker,” police didn’t determine his employer.

“Our officers are centered on making certain that firearms and different weapons don’t make it via our safety checkpoints,” Marty Robinson, TSA’s federal safety director for Minnesota, stated in an announcement.

He added: “Firearms ought to by no means be delivered to the safety checkpoint in carry-on baggage, and airline workers ought to definitely concentrate on that.”

TSA stated this was the forty ninth firearm detected thus far this yr at MSP. In February, a TSA officer confiscated two loaded handguns in carry-on luggage in separate incidents at MSP. Final yr, some 58 firearms have been found at MSP safety checkpoints, rising barely from the 56 in 2021.

TSA just lately introduced that officers intercepted 5,072 firearms at airport safety checkpoints nationwide via Sept. 30. On the present price, the company stated, final yr’s report of 6,452 firearms detected can be surpassed in 2023.

Individuals charged with a firearm violation will be fined practically $15,000 for the offense, TSA stated. A violator’s TSA PreCheck privileges are also revoked for at the very least 5 years.

Passengers can journey with firearms in checked baggage if they’re unloaded, packed individually from ammunition in a locked hardback case, and declared on the airline check-in counter, TSA stated.

Since state and native firearm possession legal guidelines fluctuate, TSA stated vacationers ought to verify the legal guidelines within the areas they’re flying to and from, in addition to the airline they’re touring on.

Extra particulars on the way to journey legally with a firearm can be found on TSA’s web site.