An Indiana County man was stopped from carrying a handgun onto a Pittsburgh International Airport flight Monday, bringing the total number of firearms confiscated there since January to 26, matching 2022’s figure, officials said.
Transportation Security Administration officers detected the .380 caliber gun in the man’s backpack, TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said. The gun wasn’t loaded but there was a loaded magazine packed with the firearm.
Police confiscated the weapon before citing the man, who TSA did not identify, on a weapons charge, Farbstein said.
The man also faces a stiff federal financial civil penalty as high as $15,000, depending on the circumstances, she said.
“There is no excuse for bringing a firearm onto a flight,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the Findlay Township-based airport. “We are detecting guns at our checkpoints regularly and this is a stark reminder why each carry-on bag is screened at our checkpoints.”
Passengers can travel with firearms only in checked baggage, if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided, locked case, Farbstein said. The locked case should be taken to an airline check-in counter to be declared.
Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at 262 out of 430 airport security checkpoints nationwide, Farbstein said. A total of 88% were loaded.
There were 26 guns confiscated at Pittsburgh International Airport in 2022, down from 32 the year before, Farbstein said.
In 2020, when travel numbers dropped dramatically due to covid-19, only 21 guns were confiscated locally, she said.
