Transportation Security Administration officers stopped two passengers at Pittsburgh International Airport Thursday after they tried to carry guns onto flights — the fifth time TSA has confiscated weapons there in the past eight days.
The guns were the 37th and 38th confiscated this year at the Findlay airport — a new single-year record.
Jamal Pittman, 40, of Mississippi was accused of having a loaded 9 mm handgun at a security checkpoint when he tried to board a plane shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, Allegheny County Police said.
He is being detained in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of a $20,000 cash bond to await an Oct. 23 preliminary hearing in front of District Judge Randy Martini, court records show.
The FBI also was notified of the arrest, police said.
Pittman was taken into custody and charged with a felony count of illegal possession of a firearm and misdemeanor count of carrying a firearm without permit. He is the ninth person this year to face charges for bringing a firearm to an airport checkpoint.
Hours after Pittman’s arrest, TSA caught an Imperial man with a 380 caliber handgun and a loaded magazine, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. Police confiscated the gun but didn’t arrest the man because he had a Pennsylvania gun permit.
The TSA declines to identify American travelers by name, per its policy, Farbstein said.
“We are seeing too many travelers bringing guns to our checkpoints,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “Responsible gun owners know where their guns are and they know not to bring them to a checkpoint.”
The TSA has stopped 38 guns this year to date at Pittsburgh International Airport, more than the previous single-year of 35, which was set in 2019, Farbstein said. The number is up from 26 guns in 2022 and 32 guns in 2021.
Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at airport security checkpoints nationwide, she said. During the first nine months of 2023, TSA officers detected more than 5,000 guns at U.S. checkpoints. The agency now is on track to surpass the record-high number of confiscated guns, which was set in 2022.
On Tuesday, county police arrested a Uniontown man after he was stopped with an illegal gun at the main security checkpoint at the airport.
Tuesday’s incident set a new annual record for the number of guns found in carry-on bags, according to authorities.
Passengers who bring a weapon into an airport security checkpoint can face federal civil fines from the TSA up to $10,000. Repeat offenders can be fined up to $13,910.
