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Yes.

In August 2021, Wisconsin House candidate Derrick Van Orden was cited for carrying a loaded gun into an Iowa airport. Court records show he had a loaded 9 mm handgun in his carry-on bag at the security checkpoint at the Cedar Rapids airport.  

He pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2021. Van Orden received two fines and had to take a firearms safety course. Van Orden was also placed on unsupervised probation through Dec. 27, 2022.

In a statement to Wisconsin Public Radio, Van Orden’s campaign characterized the incident as “purely accidental.”

Sources

Wisconsin Public Radio: Congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden fined for having gun in carry-on bag at Iowa airport

La Crosse Tribune: GOP congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden fined for having loaded gun in Iowa airport

Kenosha News: GOP congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden fined for having loaded gun in Iowa airport

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Erin Gretzinger / Wisconsin WatchReporting Intern

Erin Gretzinger joined Wisconsin Watch as a reporting intern in May 2022. She is a journalism and French major at UW-Madison and will graduate in spring 2023. Erin previously worked for the Wisconsin State Journal as a reporting intern and served as the 2021-22 editor-in-chief at The Badger Herald. She is a recipient of the Jon Wolman Scholarship, the Sigrid Schultz Scholarship and the Joseph Sicherman Award Fund for her academic and reporting work.