Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for having a loaded gun at a North Carolina airport Tuesday – the second time he was busted carrying a firearm in an airport since last year, authorities said.
Transportation Security Administration workers found the loaded Staccato 9mm handgun in Cawthorn’s bag during security screening at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Cawthorn was “cooperative” with responding officers and said he owned the gun, which was confiscated as part of normal protocol, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a series of tweets.
The weapon was recovered at Checkpoint D around 9 a.m., the outlet said.
The North Carolina Republican was cited for possession of a dangerous weapon on city property, the department said. He was released and police confiscated the gun.
Transportation Security Administration workers found a loaded Staccato 9mm handgun inside Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s bag during security screening at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. REUTERS/Octavio JonesCops told the Observer that it was standard protocol to not arrest a passenger on the misdemeanor charges “unless there are other associated felony charges or extenuating circumstances.”
WSOC-TV obtained a photo of the loaded gun and identified it as a 9mm.
Cawthorn admitted to owning the loaded Staccato 9mm handgun. TSA
Officials recovered the weapon at Charlotte Douglas International Airport’s Checkpoint D at 9 a.m. Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Security confiscated the Glock handgun but allowed Cawthorn to board the plane. Madison Cawthorn/InstagramCawthorn, 26, was cited in February 2021 when he tried to board an airplane in Asheville with a 9mm and loaded magazine on his carry-on luggage, WLOS reported.
Security confiscated the Glock handgun but allowed the congressman to board the plane, the Observer said.
Cawthorn, who was elected in 2020, recently riled fellow lawmakers by comparing DC to Netflix’s hit political series “House of Cards” — saying the nation’s capital is filled with cocaine-fueled orgies.
Cawthorn was previously cited in 2021 when he tried to get an airplane with a gun in Asheville. AP/J. Scott Applewhite“The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington. I mean, being kind of a young guy in Washington, where the average age is probably 60 or 70 — [you] look at all these people, a lot of them that I’ve looked up to through my life, I’ve always paid attention to politics,” said Cawthorn.
“Then all of a sudden you get invited: ‘We’re going to have a sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come.’ ‘What did you just ask me to come to?’ And then you realize they’re asking you to come to an orgy,” he said.
