The man who packed an anti-tank rifle in his luggage at San Antonio International Airport earlier this week won’t face charges, the Express-News reports.
Transportation Security Agency (TSA) personnel confiscated the 84 mm Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifle Monday after it was discovered in the man’s luggage, an incident that quickly grabbed national headlines.
However, the man — who hasn’t been publicly identified — had legitimate reason to carry the weapon of war in his checked luggage, authorities told the Express-News. He was heading to Las Vegas, where it was to be used as a prop in a shooting and hunting trade show.
The traveler declared the rifle to the airline at check-in, according to the TSA Southwest Division’s Twitter account. What’s more, it had been disarmed before the flight, the daily reports.
Even so, TSA officials chose not to allow high-powered weapon onto the aircraft.
Numbers collected by the federal agency suggest there was reason for agents to be cautious: Texans have a bad habit of bringing guns onto planes.
A record 6,542 weapons were confiscated at airports across the nation last year, according to the TSA. Of those, a total of 833 were found in luggage at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Houston Intercontinental and Austin-Bergstrom. All three landed in the feds’ rankings of the 10 airports with the highest number of gun confiscations.
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This article appears in Jan 11-24, 2023.
