July 22 (UPI) -- "American Idol" Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery has issued a statement explaining the misdemeanor citation he received for trying to bring a loaded handgun on an airplane last week.
TMZ said the 23-year-old singer was going through a security X-ray checkpoint at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina when the black, 9mm, Smith & Wesson pistol and two boxes of bullets were spotted in the his backpack.