TSA stops man with gun at Pittsburgh Airport
For the second time in five days, Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a passenger with a loaded handgun at Pittsburgh International Airport.
On Tuesday, TSA officers observed a loaded 9mm Glock handgun in a backpack belonging to a 44-year-old man at the airport’s main security checkpoint. The man possessed a valid concealed carry permit, according to Allegheny County Police and told officers he inadvertently left the gun in his bag. The FBI was notified and the man was allowed to fly.
Charges are not expected to be filed by Allegheny County Police, who confiscated the firearm. It’s the 22nd gun caught at the airport so far this year, one more than the number caught last year.
The incident comes on the heels of TSA officers preventing a Pittsburgh man from bringing a loaded .42-caliber handgun onto a flight at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday, a day before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
TSA officers spotted the gun in at a security checkpoint X-ray machine. They alerted Allegheny County Police, who then confiscated the gun and temporarily detained the man for questioning. TSA said the man was cited and issued a court summons.
“The 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been in the news cycle for two solid weeks, and yet here a traveler brought a loaded gun to our checkpoint a day before that solemn date,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director at Pittsburgh International.
“I find it interesting that so many individuals are not aware that TSA was created as a result of the terrorist attacks of 9/11,” she said. “What we need is for travelers to do their part and not bring weapons to the airport checkpoint.”
The rules for anyone transporting a gun stipulate that it must be unloaded, packed in a locked and hard-sided case and brought to the airline check-in counter to be declared and transported in the belly of the plane with checked baggage.
“People who bring their guns to TSA checkpoints face a federal financial civil penalty that will hit them hard in the wallet,” said Keys-Turner.
Fines range from anywhere between $3,000 and $13,910 for passengers who have loaded guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint.
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