Passengers caught with 2 loaded guns at Pittsburgh International Airport
The Transportation Security Administration said officers prevented two Pennsylvania residents from bringing handguns in carry-on bags through a security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday.
The weapons were the fourth and fifth guns to be stopped at the Findlay airport this year.
A Pittsburgh man was caught with a loaded .40-caliber handgun, and a Wexford man was stopped with a loaded 9 mm handgun, TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
“It is vital that travelers remember that their guns are not permitted through any airport security checkpoint,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport.
She added: “In all instances, if you bring a gun to a checkpoint, it will result in a serious conversation with the police, possible criminal charges and a hefty federal financial civil penalty that could cost you into the thousands of dollars.”
Passengers can travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case, Farbstein said.
The potential fine for carrying a weapon through an airport checkpoint was recently increased to up to $15,000, Farbstein said.
Last year, officers caught 6,542 firearms at 262 airport security checkpoints nationwide, and 88% of the weapons were loaded, officials have said. Twenty-six guns were caught at Pittsburgh International Airport in 2022, down from 32 in 2021.
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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