Sammy Kershaw Fined For Accidentally Bringing Loaded Gun Through Airport TSA

Sam­my Ker­shaw Hit With Fine After Unin­ten­tion­al­ly Bring­ing A Firearm Through TSA At Louisiana Air­port

Coun­try music icon Sam­my Ker­shaw is own­ing up to a mis­take he made while trav­el­ing through the air­port in Lafayette, Louisiana.

As Ker­shaw stat­ed in a press release from Absolute Pub­lic­i­ty, the TSA flagged his bag at the Lafayette air­port on May 28. Agents dis­cov­ered Ker­shaw had “acci­den­tal­ly [brought] a loaded hand­gun through [the] TSA screen­ing.”

Ker­shaw is a Louisiana native. He was born in the small city of Kaplan in 1958, and he spent his pre-teen and teenage years per­form­ing in local honky-tonks

Air­line pas­sen­gers can trav­el with a firearm, but there are some reg­u­la­tions to fol­low. As the TSA web­site explains

Because Ker­shaw acci­den­tal­ly packed his firearm, he didn’t fol­low these reg­u­la­tions.

Fines for such an infrac­tion can sur­pass $10,000, and offend­ers may also face pos­si­ble jail time. In Kershaw’s case, he received a $5,000 fine.

After the expe­ri­ence, Ker­shaw warned his fans to check their bags before they leave for their next flight so they don’t make the same mis­take. He said:

“I guess it’s safe to say I won’t be pack­ing heat to my next show. Let this be your friend­ly PSA: check your bags, check ’em twice. Let’s all stay safe out there.”

Ker­shaw Is Cur­rent­ly Tour­ing Across The U.S.

Sam­my Ker­shaw emerged on the scene with the release of his debut sin­gle, “The Flame Has Gone Out,” in 1986. His big break came in 1991, when his sin­gle “Cadil­lac Style” reached #3 on the Hot Coun­try Songs chart.

A score of oth­er hits fol­lowed, includ­ing “She Don’t Know She’s Beau­ti­ful,” “Queen of My Dou­ble Wide Trail­er,” “Third Rate Romance,” and “Love of My Life.”

The suc­cess of these sin­gles and many oth­ers led to Kershaw’s nom­i­na­tion for the CMA’s Hori­zon Award in 1993. The cat­e­go­ry has since been renamed as the CMA Award for New Artist of the Year

Ker­shaw remains active as a per­form­ing and tour­ing artist. His lat­est sin­gle, “Evan­ge­line,” debuted in 2021. This year (2025), he’s trekking across the U.S. on an exten­sive tour.

The 67-year-old’s next show is sched­uled for June 27 in Roland, Okla­homa. He’ll con­tin­ue to per­form through­out the sum­mer and fall. His last show of the year will be on Decem­ber 6 at The Show­room at the Gold­en Nugget in Las Vegas.