Representative. Victoria SpartzR-Ind., was accused of weapons violation at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed to NBC News on Monday.
The spokesman, who said Spartz was charged on Friday, cited a Virginia section law linked to the dangerous use of firearms or other weapons, which makes it a crime to “possess or transport” a gun or a variety of other dangerous weapons “into any airport terminal of an air carrier.”
A spokesperson for Spartz said the citation was issued before his international flight to a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which took place in Romania.
“Last Friday, Congresswoman Spartz accidentally carried an empty handgun in her suitcase, with no magazine or bullets, which she did not realize was in the pocket of her suitcase, while going through security at Dulles Airport,” the spokesman said. voice in a statement on Monday. in response to a request for comment.
Spartz, who is the first Ukrainian immigrant to serve in Congress, is seeking re-election in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, which includes suburbs north of Indianapolis and is classified as solidly republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. She won his primary in May, defeating a challenger who got it thereI’m with her support in Aid to Ukraine and other issues.
Spartz is not the first lawmaker in recent years to face a violation linked to gun possession at an airport.
So-Rep. Madison Cawthorn, RN.C., was cited in 2022 for having a loaded gun at an airport security checkpoint in his home state. He had been stopped twice at gunpoint at an airport during his two years in office. Cawthorn lost his 2022 primary.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
