TSA officers stopped a man from carrying this revolver through the checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport on Dec. 21. The gun was inside a carry-on bag which was inside a duffle bag. (TSA photo)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A Texas man was arrested by police after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) detected a .22 caliber handgun inside a carry-on bag, which was inside a duffle bag at the security checkpoint on Tuesday, Dec. 21. The revolver filled the entire purse.
When the TSA officer spotted the gun in the checkpoint X-ray machine, the Allegheny County Police were alerted, confiscated the weapon and arrested the man on weapons charges. TSA forwarded the incident to be followed up with the issuance of a federal financial civil penalty.
The man told officials that he was clearing out the house of a deceased relative to bring items back to his home and did not realize that there was a gun in the purse.
This week is part of the busy holiday travel period, a time when traveler volume picks up and prohibited and illegal items that travelers bring with them to the security checkpoint slow down the line for everyone.
“Our technologies are designed to alert us when we need a closer inspection of an item and indeed, the X-ray machine alarmed when it detected the gun through the purse and duffle bag. Our X-ray units can ‘see’ through all of that clutter,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport.
TSA reserves the right to issue a $3,000 to $13,910 civil penalty to individuals who bring weapons with them to a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating or aggravating 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.
Travelers are allowed 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 with checked baggage. 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.
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.