Two travelers were arrested within a 20-minute period this week at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for allegedly carrying guns.
The two Georgians in the separate incidents were passing through security Tuesday afternoon when Transportation Security Administration agents saw X-ray images that appeared to show weapons.
The agents called police, who found the weapons after searching the passengers’ belongings, TSA spokesman Jon Allen said Wednesday.
Clayton County police booking records identify the travelers as Rolando Buigas of Smyrna and Kimberly Lynn Farmer of Mount Airy.
Both appeared before a Clayton County magistrate Wednesday on charges of carrying weapons in an unauthorized location.
Buigas was accused of carrying a .40-caliber Glock handgun in his luggage, and Farmer, of carrying a .22-caliber Beretta handgun in her purse. Bond was set at $5,000 for each.
Farmer's husband, Stacy Farmer, said his wife forgot to take the weapon out of her purse before traveling, Channel 2 Action News reported. Farmer said his wife, an amputee, travels on business and keeps the Baretta handgun for protection.
Allen said the TSA averages two gun confiscations a day across the country. Civil penalties for carrying a firearm at an airport can range from $3,000 to $7,500 for a loaded weapon and $1,500 to $3,000 for an unloaded weapon.
In the last two months, 15 guns have been confiscated at Hartsfield-Jackson, Allen said.
Last week, a senior executive of the Memory Company, a Phenix City, Ala.-based sports collectibles firm, was arrested by Atlanta police after airport security officers discovered a weapon he was carrying in his briefcase. Donald J. Trandem's attorney said his client forgot about the handgun when he walked into a security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson.
In addition to the Hartsfield-Jackson incidents, a woman was arrested earlier this week at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., after a security check turned up a loaded handgun in her carry-on bag.
“If you’re going to take a bag onto an airplane checkpoint, you’re responsible for the contents of that bag,” Allen said. “Check it out before you leave home, look inside any pouches and anything that may be zipped up, and make sure you don’t have something prohibited in it like a handgun.”
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