Security agents caught the third gun in nine days – and the second this week – at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday, Transportation Security Administration officials said.
Security officers stopped a Westmoreland County man at the security checkpoint after they spotted a .38-caliber handgun in the man’s carry-on bag.
Allegheny County Police discovered the man, identified in court records as Richard Santone Sr., did not have a license to carry the gun.
Santone, of Hannastown, is charged with carrying a firearm without a license, court records show.
It was the second time this week TSA agents stopped a traveler trying to take a gun through security in their carry-on.
On Monday, officers stopped an Allegheny County man with a loaded .380-caliber handgun, and on Feb. 4, a Beaver County man was stopped, also with a .380-caliber handgun.
Security agents have stopped four guns at the Pittsburgh International checkpoint so far this year. They caught 21 last year, lower than previous years because of a drop in travel amid the covid-19 pandemic. TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein noted that 83% were loaded.
Before that, the number of guns caught at security had been creeping slightly upward for years: 32 in 2017, 34 in 2018 and 35 in 2019, according to TSA data.
The drop in guns in 2020 was not, however commensurate with the drop in travelers, Farbstein said: twice as many firearms per 1 million travelers were caught last year compared to 2019.
Absent criminal charge, getting caught with a gun in security can carry federal civil penalties – up to $4,100 for a first offense. Travelers can travel with their firearms so long as they are packed appropriately and checked as baggage. For information on the proper packing procedure can be found at tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition
