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Another gun detected at Pittsburgh International; airport on pace for record number of confiscations, TSA says | TribLIVE.com
Airport Area

Another gun detected at Pittsburgh International; airport on pace for record number of confiscations, TSA says

Justin Vellucci
6625328_web1_PIT-gun-9-29-23
Courtesy of Transportation Security Administration
A Georgia man tried to carry this loaded 9mm handgun onto a flight at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023

The Transportation Security Administration confiscated a loaded handgun from a Georgia man at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday, the third gun intercepted at the airport in a week, officials said.

“We are on the cusp of setting a new all-time high in the number of guns our team has detected at checkpoints here in Pittsburgh during a single year and we still have three full months left in 2023,” Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, said Monday.

TSA has confiscated 33 guns at the airport to date this year, the highest number in at least four years, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.


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Agents confiscated 35 guns in 2019, the current record high, and 26 guns all of last year, Farbstein said.

In the latest incident, TSA said it stopped the Georgia man from taking a loaded 9mm handgun onto a plane. Officials did not identify the man.

Previously, agents confiscated a loaded gun on Sept. 26 and a revolver on Sept. 24, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.

Those who try to carry guns onto a flight face a civil penalty of up to $15,000, depending on the circumstances, Farbstein said.

Passengers are allowed to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if the weapons are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case, Farbstein said. The locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.

Justin Vellucci is a TribLive reporter covering crime and public safety in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A longtime freelance journalist and former reporter for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, he worked as a general assignment reporter at the Trib from 2006 to 2009 and returned in 2022. He can be reached at jvellucci@triblive.com.

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