Representative Madison Cawthorn, RN.C. was charged Tuesday with a misdemeanor charge after the TSA intercepted a loaded 9mm pistol as it passed a security checkpoint at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Just over a year earlier, Cawthorn reportedly had his 9mm Glock removed from another North Carolina airport after TSA workers found the weapon in his handbag. A criminal defense lawyer told CNBC after the latest incident that the shooting at Charlotte Douglas Airport was a violation of city regulations that “most often” leads to arrest. In a letter Thursday, House Democrats urged TSA Administrator David Pekoske to “act decisively to ensure that repeat offenders, such as Kauthorn’s spokesman, face the full extent” of the service’s “enforcement actions.” “Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle agree that those who break the law and endanger the safety of other passengers – and in particular repeat offenders such as Cawthorn – must be held accountable,” the letter said. Security Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., And Transport Subcommittee Chair Bonnie Watson Coleman, DN.J. “The TSA must take appropriate action without fear or favor against all of these offenders, whether they are public figures such as spokesman Cawthorn,” they wrote. A Cawthorn spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an Instagram post Wednesday, Cawthorn said the gun was accidentally left in his bag. “Even if you fly all the time and are just used to grabbing your bags and going, always take the extra 30-60 seconds to check your luggage and make sure everything is in order,” Cawthorn wrote in the post. . . “I made a mistake yesterday, there is no excuse for it, just a blatant mistake.” In an accompanying video, a smiling Cawthorn said he was flying home from Washington, DC, and had just passed a TSA checkpoint without causing another incident. “Really good news: Once I got through the TSA, there were no major alarms, nothing bad happened,” Cawthorn said, adding, “Fly safely, make sure you do not have a gun in your bag.” The 26-year-old House’s freshman has become a magnet for criticism on both sides of the aisle, especially after recent allegations that members of Congress were using drugs and inviting him to orgies. On Wednesday, another North Carolina Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis, called for a House ethics inquiry following reports that Cawthorn may have violated confidential information rules through his connection to a cryptocurrency against M. Tillis has backed Cawthorn’s main challenger. The problems at Cawthorn Airport came amid a sharp rise in safety-carrying airline passengers, Thompson and Coleman wrote in their letter. They cited TSA figures showing that such incidents have doubled on a per-passenger basis since 2019, with nearly 6,000 firearms found at checkpoints in 2021. Of the weapons seized that year, about 86% were loaded, according to the TSA. Evidence shows that the number of firearms detected at TSA checkpoints has been increasing every year since at least 2008, with the exception of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic jammed thousands of flights. In 2008, the TSA said it seized 926 weapons at its airport checkpoints. by 2021, that number had risen to 5,972. The Homeland Security Committee last month reviewed legislation, sponsored by Coleman, aimed at strengthening security measures and penalties for gun offenders at airports, including suspending their eligibility for trusted traveler benefits and introducing minimum civil penalties for repeated violations.
