Rockets center Dwight Howard had some explaining to do after he was caught with a handgun in his carry-on bag at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday.<\/p>\n
Howard was detained and questioned after TSA officials found the weapon stowed in his bag. The basketball star explained that the gun was indeed his, but law enforcement officials still let him go and even allowed him to pass it off to an associate. <\/p>\n
Thankfully Howard wasn\u2019t in New York or New Jersey, where he almost certainly would have been facing jail time over the incident.<\/p>\n
Houston Police Department spokesperson Kese Smith said it\u2019s not that uncommon to come across travellers who mistakenly bring along their firearms. There were 77 firearms discovered inside Houston\u2019s main airports in the past year, but few charges were filed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t unusual,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n
Howard wasn\u2019t available for comment on the incident, but it is known that he was ultimately permitted to board his flight.<\/p>\n
(This article was a submission from freelance writer Brent Rogers<\/em>) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rockets’ center Dwight Howard had some explaining to do after he was caught with a handgun in his carry-on bag at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":42272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,25,241,216,240],"tags":[132],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-current-events","9":"category-rapid-fire","10":"category-s-h-blannelberry","11":"category-this-week","12":"tag-buzz"},"yoast_head":"\n