Guns found at TSA checkpoints could mean fine, jail time for travelers
Starting June 1,
anyone who forgets they have a gun in their carry-on luggage will be looking at up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine if the firearm is caught at the security check point at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Until Georgia law was changed two years ago, “we didn’t really have any issues here,” Britt Johnson, who is head of the Atlanta FBI office, said of the “
Guns Everywhere Law” that expanded the list of places guns were allowed. The law said gun owners with a permit could take guns discovered in their carry-on luggage back to their cars or give them to someone for safe keeping, and they would not face criminal charges.
The punishment for those people charged with a federal misdemeanor when a TSA agent finds a gun in their carry-on luggage is up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine. People without gun carry permits will continue to be charged with a felonies under state law.