Rep Madison Cawthorn has been cited for bringing a gun into a North Carolina airport.

       According to unnamed sources with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who spoke to WSOC-TV, the loaded 9mm handgun was found in Mr Cawthorn’s luggage at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday morning. Later that day, police said he’d been given a citation.

       “Mr Cawthorn stated that the firearm was his and he was cooperative with the CMPD officers,” the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said on Twitter.

       “Mr Cawthorn was issued a citation for Possession of a Dangerous Weapon on City Property, which is a City of Charlotte Ordinance. Mr Cawthorn was released, and the CMPD took possession of the firearm, which is normal procedure.”

       The news echoes a similar incident in February 2021, when TSA agents found a weapon – also a 9mm handgun – in Mr Cawthorn’s carry-on at Asheville Regional Airport. He was not charged over that incident.

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       In an email to The Independent, the TSA confirmed that a firearm was “detected” at Checkpoint D of the airport at about 9am. The agency did not say who the gun belonged to, citing a policy against releasing passenger information.

       The TSA did say the weapon was a Staccato 9mm handgun, and was loaded. According to the agency’s guidelines, passengers can pack guns in their luggage under certain circumstances, but they must be unloaded.

       “Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter,” the TSA says on its website. “Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided locked case, and packed separately from ammunition. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.”

       The Independent has reached out to Mr Cawthorn’s office for comment.

       The airport incident is far from the only controversy the North Carolina Republican has faced, even within the past week. On Friday, photos emerged of Mr Cawthorn partying in women’s lingerie – although the congressman says the pictures were taken “waaay before I ran for Congress.”

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       “I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise … is [sic] going to somehow hurt me?” Mr Cawthorn later tweeted. “They’re running out of things to throw at me…”

       The congressman had previously accused other lawmakers of doing drugs in front of him and inviting him to orgies.