A muscle-bound NFL lineman was busted at LaGuardia Airport yesterday for packing a powerful .40-caliber handgun in a carry-on bag as he tried to board a flight, authorities said.
Da’Quan Bowers — a 6-foot-5, 290-pound defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — allegedly admitted to having the weapon as he arrived at 11 a.m. at a US Airways ticket counter.
“Mr. Bowers was flagged for holding,” cracked one Port Authority cop. “It’s up to line judge [Queens DA] Richard Brown to determine what the penalty will be.”
Bowers copped to owning the gun at the airline ticket booth, which prompted a police response.
He conceded that he wasn’t cleared to carry it in New York, even though he legally bought it in Florida.
“The gun is mine. I don’t have a permit,” Bowers told cops, sources told The Post.
The 22-year-old second-year NFL player was trying to get onto a plane to North Carolina with gal pal Dana Rodgers, who lives in Raleigh, when the Smith & Wesson gun was uncovered in a black suitcase. A clip wrapped in clothing was also found, sources said.
Though the clip was not in the gun, the weapon is considered loaded under New York law because it was filled with bullets.
“The two of them were in the same bag — under the law it’s considered a loaded gun,” the source said.
Bowers told authorities he bought the gun legally in Florida, where he keeps a home in Tampa, a source said.
The football player told investigators that he had carried the gun up to New York on a plane about three days ago and it had gone undetected, sources said.
He was charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years upon conviction.
Alongside his lawyer last night, a somber Bowers left Queens Criminal Court, where he posted $10,000 bail.
He is due back in court on April 11.
Additional reporting by Kenneth Garger