Beaver Falls man faces felony charge after TSA says he brought loaded revolver to Pittsburgh airport

Two days after federal and local law enforcement laid out new penalties for those who bring firearms to Pittsburgh International Airport security checkpoints, inadvertently or otherwise, a Beaver Falls man was arrested for carrying a firearm without a license after a gun was spotted in his carry-on bag.

Randolph Copeland, 54, is charged with carrying a firearm without a license, court records show. The charge is a third-degree felony.

It is the 28th gun caught at Pittsburgh’s security checkpoints so far this year, according to Lisa Farbstein, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.

Copeland told police the gun belonged to his father, even though it was in his carry-on bag, Farbstein said. He said that he had forgotten to take the gun out of the bag before coming to the airport – essentially confirming he knew the gun had been in the bag, she said.

The .357-caliber revolver was loaded, Farbstein said.

Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, said Copeland’s explanation that he forgot the gun was in the bag doesn’t hold water.

“The vast majority of violators claim that they forgot that they had their loaded guns with them, just like this man did,” she said. “That’s no excuse. Responsible gun owners know where their guns are at all times and they know the proper way to transport a handgun to their destination.”

The incident comes two days after Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman announced that the names of those caught with guns would be forwarded to the sheriff in their home county along with a recommendation their concealed carry permit be revoked.

Authorities often find their hands tied when travelers who show up with guns that have valid concealed carry permits, Kaufman said Wednesday. “Because we have to show criminal intent to bring a criminal charge,” he said, “no criminal charges are filed.”

The number of firearms caught by agents at Pittsburgh International had been increasing slightly, but consistently, in the years leading up to the covid-19 pandemic: 32 in 2017, 34 in 2018 and 35 in 2019.

Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, the number of guns caught at checkpoints has dropped, though it has not been in a manner proportional to the drop in travelers.

In 2019, just under 9.78 million passengers passed through the airport, and 35 guns were caught over the course of the year — about one gun per 279,000 passengers. In 2020, the airport saw about 3.65 million passengers and 21 guns — roughly one gun for every 174,000 passengers.