Former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn said he’s glad the judge let him keep his gun after he pleaded guilty in a Mecklenburg County court room Friday to having a loaded firearm in his carry-on at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Judge Cecilia Oseguera ordered Cawthorn to pay a $250 fine on the misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous weapon on city property on April 26, 2022.
The judge denied a prosecutor’s request that Cawthorn relinquish the 9 millimeter handgun that Transportation Security Administration agents seized from his bag at Checkpoint D. The judge said she found nothing in the charge that requires a person to give up such a seized firearm.
Cawthorn, who flew in for the hearing from his home in Florida, later told reporters outside the courthouse that he never realized the gun was in his carry-on and that he agrees no one should be allowed to take a firearm onto a plane.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police cited Cawthorn after TSA agents found the gun and notified CMPD officers who are assigned to the airport, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Police said they released Cawthorn and, for the time, confiscated the gun. CMPD called it standard procedure for airport division officers to cite and not arrest a passenger for the misdemeanor charge “unless there are other associated felony charges or extenuating circumstances.”
“Mr. Cawthorn stated that the firearm was his and he was cooperative with the CMPD officers,” CMPD said in a news release.
At the time, Cawthorn was a first-term GOP congressman representing North Carolina’s 11th District, which includes Asheville and much of western N.C. At 26, he was the youngest member of Congress.
Madison Cawthorn guns in airports
His arrest in Charlotte was the second instance where Cawthorn had been caught with a gun at an airport. In February 2021, Cawthorn tried to go through security with a gun at the Asheville airport.
Security there found a Glock 9 mm handgun and confiscated it from the congressman but allowed him to board the plane.
He’s also been accused of bringing knives to two school board meetings and, separately, two schools.
Cawthorn has found himself in a myriad of controversies that led to North Carolina’s top Republicans supporting his opponent, state Sen. Chuck Edwards, in the primary. Those Republicans include U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, state Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore.
The controversies include driving while his license was revoked, claiming his colleagues on The Hill have participated in orgies and taken “key bumps of cocaine,” and most recently being labeled a hypocrite after vacation photos surfaced of him dressed in women’s lingerie while simultaneously speaking out against the transgender community.
Cawthorn’s comments on his colleagues caused Republican leaders such as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to tell Cawthorn he had lost his trust and that consequences were possible, including stripping him of any committee assignments.