Rock musician charged with having loaded gun on Delta flight
ATLANTA — Rock guitarist Rick Derringer carried a loaded gun in his carry-on bag on a Delta Air Lines flight from Cancun, Mexico, but was stopped after landing in Atlanta and now faces a criminal charge, authorities said.
Derringer told a federal air marshal that he flies 30 to 50 times per year with the gun in his carry-on bag, and has never had a problem, a court affidavit states.
Days earlier, the musician had also managed to pass through security with the gun at a Florida airport on his way to Mexico, the court records say. And an airport official in Mexico told The Associated Press Friday that authorities must investigate what happened at the Cancun airport.
“Derringer explained that he was aware that his pistol was in his carry-on bag but he thought that it was acceptable to carry a pistol on an airplane,” according to the criminal complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.