Transportation Security Administration screeners spotted the 9-mm in a knapsack as it passed through an X-ray machine, the TSA said. The gun contained 8 bullets, according to the agency and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The TSA called Port Authority police, who arrested the man on a charge of unlawful possession of a handgun, the Port Authority said. The man, 59-year-old Steven Ernst, allegedly told police he had forgotten the weapon was in his knapsack.
Ernst was released pending a court date in December, the Port Authority said.