Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina was found with a loaded handgun in the Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday, according to the city’s police department.
Airport officers were notified after Transportation Security Administration officials located the gun in a bag at a security screening checkpoint. The Republican lawmaker was cooperative with police and was cited on a misdemeanor criminal charge for bringing the weapon into the airport.
“Mr. Cawthorn stated that the firearm was his and he was cooperative with the CMPD officers,” a statement from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said. “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.”
It isn’t the first time Cawthorn has done this. The 26-year-old lawmaker was also stopped in 2021 before boarding a plane, when security found an unloaded gun and a magazine loaded with ammunition in his carry-on bag. The lawmaker has also faced charges for driving without a license and at least two other citations in North Carolina for speeding.
Cawthorn did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
His name was buzzing in headlines last week after POLITICO published exclusive photos that appear to show Cawthorn wearing lingerie in what looks to be a party setting. The congressman has come under fire recently after accusing his GOP colleagues of inviting him to orgies.
After the story was published, Cawthorn tweeted that the photos were taken on a cruise before he was an elected official.
“I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise (taken waaay before I ran for Congress) is going to somehow hurt me?” he wrote on Twitter. “They’re running out of things to throw at me… Share your most embarrassing vacay pics in the replies.”
