A Washington County man’s loaded handgun was confiscated on Christmas Day by Transportation Security Administration officers at Pittsburgh International Airport, authorities said.
The McMurray resident, whose name was not released, attempted to bring the .380 caliber handgun with his carry-on items through TSA security at the Findlay airport, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. The gun was loaded with six bullets.
This confiscation brings the total number of guns caught at the airport’s checkpoints this year to 44, nine more than the previous record of 35 firearms caught in 2019, Farbstein said.
TSA officials do not release the names of travelers, per the agency’s policy. No criminal charges are anticipated against the McMurray man, Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said.
“The passenger had a valid concealed carry permit,” Madalinsky said. “As in every case, the FBI was notified.”
“Our TSA officers work on holidays so that others may travel to visit family and friends,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “Their continued vigilance to ensure that people can get to their destinations safely is demonstrated daily and Christmas Day was no exception.”
“It’s absolutely unforgivable to bring a firearm to a security checkpoint,” Keys-Turner added.
Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case, Farbstein said. Once packed, the guns must be declared at an airline check-in counter.
Civil penalties for bringing a weapon into a checkpoint can reach up to $15,000, Farbstein said. It was unclear what fines the McMurray man might face.
State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, is working on a measure that would revoke the concealed carry permits of people caught with a gun at an airport security checkpoint.
“For years, I’ve watched law enforcement try to solve the problem of guns in airports with education, signage and public announcements alone, and the number of incidents has continued upward,” he told TribLive in a previous story.
TSA has confiscated 44 guns at Pittsburgh International Airport checkpoints this year, up from 26 in 2022, Farbstein said. A total of 32 guns were confiscated in 2021, and 21 guns in 2020. The previous single-year record for TSA confiscations in Pittsburgh was 2019’s 35 guns.
Nationwide in 2022, 6,542 firearms were caught and the agency is on track to surpass the record-setting number of guns caught nationwide in 2023, Farbstein said.
