Atlanta passenger gets gun through TSA, alerts officials in Japan he still has it

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned that a man carried a gun through the TSA checkpoint at Atlanta's airport and carried it all the way through to his destination: Tokyo.

TSA confirmed the incident with ABC News, saying the man and his firearm made it through the checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Jan. 2 and he boarded Delta Flight DL295 to Tokyo Narita International Airport.

[READ: Travelers concerned over reported sick-outs by TSA workers]

An airline source told ABC News that the owner of the gun informed airline workers of what happened “upon arrival” in Japan.

Delta confirmed to ABC News that upon the customer’s disclosure, airline officials alerted TSA.

In a statement from TSA, the agency said:

“TSA has determined standard procedures were not followed and a passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a firearm at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on January 2. TSA will hold those responsible appropriately accountable."

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The current partial government shutdown had started about a week and a half before the incident.

Hartsfield-Jackson, like several other airports across the country, has seen an increase in call-outs since the shutdown started on Dec. 22, 2018.

[READ: Miami airport closes terminal as TSA workers refuse to work without pay during government shutdown]

It has since broken the record as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

TSA confirmed to ABC News that TSA had about 5% unscheduled absences on Jan. 2, 2019. The agency said that was the same amount of unscheduled absences as on Jan. 3, 2018, when no government shutdown was in place.

Cox Media Group