In the latest instance of two handguns showing up at security checkpoints on the same day at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a pair of travelers Friday found themselves diverted to Clayton County Jail, authorities said.
It’s not an entirely uncommon event, said Jonathan Allen, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman. The last time two guns were seized by TSA agents on the same day at the Atlanta airport was April 18, he said.
Harry William Braun, 63, of Canton was arrested Friday morning after security discovered a loaded .22-caliber Phoenix Arms semi-automatic in a carry-on bag, according to an Atlanta Police Department incident report.
An X-ray operator spotted the gun on his monitor and alerted police.
“Mr. Braun stated that when he tried to go through the checkpoint he did not [realize] the handgun was in his carry-on bag because the handgun belonged to his wife,” police said.
In the second incident, Crispus A. Jones, 46, of Decatur was arrested Friday afternoon when police said he brought an unloaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver through security. An X-ray operator saw the gun in a laptop bag.
Jones “identified the bag as his own and stated that he had traveled to Alabama recently and had forgotten the weapon was in the bag,” police said.
Braun and Jones were charged with carrying weapons in unauthorized locations and taken to Clayton County Jail, where they remained Friday night, according to jail records.
So far this year, 34 firearms have been discovered at the TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson compared with 70 during all of 2011, Allen said. This week alone, three guns were seized at the airport. The TSA averages two gun confiscations a day across the country.
Civil penalties for carrying a firearm into the secured area of an airport can range from $3,000 to $7,500 for a loaded weapon and $1,500 to $3,000 for an unloaded weapon.
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