OLYMPIA — A Washington state senator who says he inadvertently brought a gun onto an international flight in October has been fined by the Transportation Security Administration, he said Tuesday.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, declined to disclose how much the fine cost. According to the TSA, fines for bringing an unloaded firearm to a security checkpoint range from $1,500 to $5,370.
Wilson has said he was on his way to a five-week personal vacation on Oct. 20 when he reached for some gum in his bag and realized he’d brought a gun on the flight to Hong Kong. The gun was not loaded.
When he landed, he told customs authorities about the gun and was arrested, spending several days in jail. A court dismissed the gun possession case a little over a week later.
Wilson said he paid the fine immediately online after receiving the notice last week. It was not mailed to him directly, but to a friend who lives in Kelso who brought it to him, he said. Wilson lives in Longview.
Wilson flew out of Portland International Airport. A spokesperson for TSA confirmed the agency had reviewed the incident, including closed circuit TV footage, screening images and statements from TSA officers who were on duty and the “performance and conduct” of employees at the checkpoint.
“We are prohibited from disclosing specifics regarding personnel actions due to privacy considerations of the employee,” TSA spokesperson Lorie Dankers said in an email. She added that additional training has been provided.
TSA can issue what’s called a “letter of investigation” to “any traveler who brings a firearm to the security checkpoint,” Dankers said. But correspondence between the traveler and the agency is private and the agency is not releasing any more information on the matter “due to a pending civil enforcement action against the traveler.”
Wilson, who has represented the 19th legislative district in the Senate since 2021, says he has taken responsibility for what he calls “a human mistake.”
He said he doesn’t know what the fine money is used for, but if it were used to improve passenger safety and security he’d be “happy with that.”
“I should have never been able to get to that other country,” Wilson said. “Things would have had a much different outcome had I not been allowed through security.”
Dankers said that TSA officers at the Portland airport have detected 51 firearms since Jan. 1, 93% of them loaded. Nationally, TSA officers have found more than 6,300 firearms in carry-on luggage since then.
