TSA officers at Pittsburgh International Airport stopped a woman with this loaded handgun at the security checkpoint on March 18. (TSA photo)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers caught a local woman with a .380 caliber handgun at the security checkpoint early this morning, Thursday, March 18.
It was the ninth handgun stopped by TSA officers at the airport so far this year.
When the TSA officer spotted the gun in the checkpoint X-ray machine, the Allegheny County Police were alerted, came to the checkpoint, questioned the woman and confiscated the gun.
The woman, a resident of Pittsburgh, had the gun in a bag similar to the shape of a diaper bag and told officials that she had no idea it was in her bag. She now faces a stiff Federal financial civil penalty for bringing a gun to the checkpoint.
“If you own a firearm, you need to know where it is at all times,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “To stand there and tell us that you had no idea that you had a gun with you is absolutely inexcusable. It begs the question: ‘Where did you think it was?’ Travelers know where their wallets are, where their keys are, where they left their car. They should know where their guns are too.”
Travelers are not permitted to carry their guns onto airplanes. This applies to individuals with and without concealed carry permits. However, passengers are permitted to transport their firearms as checked baggage if they are properly packed and declared at their airline ticket counter to be transported in the belly of the plane. Checked firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality and travelers should check into firearm laws before they decide to travel with their guns. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.
When an individual shows up at a checkpoint with a firearm, the checkpoint lane comes to a standstill until the police resolve the incident. Guns at checkpoints can delay travelers from getting to their gates.
TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating circumstances. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though an individual may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
TSA Firearms Caught at the Pittsburgh International Airport checkpoint, 2017 to 2021
|
Year |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020* |
2021* |
|
Guns caught |
32 |
34 |
35 |
21 |
9 |
*Significantly fewer passengers than previous years due to the pandemic.
Nationwide, TSA officers detected 3,257 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year, although the total number of passengers screened at airport checkpoints across the country fell by 500 million compared to 2019 due to the pandemic. The result was that twice as many firearms per million passengers screened were detected at checkpoints in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2020, TSA caught approximately 10 firearms per million passengers as compared to about five firearms per million passengers in 2019. Of the guns caught by TSA in 2020, about 83 percent were loaded.