Rachel Ettlinger

rettlinger@th-record.com

NEW WINDSOR - Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Dutchess County woman at New York Stewart International Airport who had a gun in her carry on luggage loaded with seven bullets, according to a TSA statement.

The woman, a Lagrangeville resident who was not named, told officials she forgot she had a .380 caliber handgun, with one bullet in the chamber, packed in her baggage when it was detected in an x-ray machine on Friday, according to a statement released by the TSA on Monday.

State police were called and the woman was detained for questioning, according to the statement. The weapon was confiscated.

A typical first offense for carrying a handgun into a checkpoint is $4,100, according to the TSA, which applies to all passengers, even if they have a concealed gun carry permit, because travelers are not allowed to bring a firearm onto an airplane unless it is in checked baggage and it has been properly declared. It also must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked and stored separately from ammunition.

Last year 4,432 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at security checkpoints across the country, which is 5 percent more than the previous year, according to the TSA. About 87 percent of those were detected were loaded.