Pittsburgh Airport's Gun Confiscations On Record-Setting Pace: TSA

MOON TOWNSHIP, PA — The number of loaded guns confiscated at Pittsburgh International Airport thus far this year is on a record-setting pace, Transportation Security Administration officials said Wednesday. TSA officers at security checkpoints have stopped two guns in the last four days, bringing the total this year to 19.

The most recent weapon confiscation occurred early Wednesday gun caught was early this morning (June 14) when a man from West Leechburg, Westmoreland County, showed up with a 99 mm handgun loaded with 16 bullets - including one in the chamber.

On June 10, an Atlanta man was arrested when a TSA officer removed a .357 revolver with 50 bullets from the man's fanny pack. The gun was unloaded, but packed with two speed loaders with six bullets each and an additional loose 38 rounds of ammunition.

In each instance, when the TSA officer spotted the guns in the checkpoint X-ray machines, airport police were alerted and confiscated the weapons and ammunition. Both men face steep federal financial civil penalties of as much as $15,000.

Since 2017, the most guns confiscated in a single year was 35 in 2019. In 2022, 26 guns.

“The proliferation of people bringing their guns to our checkpoints needs to end,” said Karen Keys-Turner, the TSA's federal security director in Pittsburgh.

“Our officers have stopped four guns at our checkpoints in the first two weeks of this month—two in the last four days. Security is serious business and we don’t need people introducing guns into the airport environment, regardless of whether there is any intent to do harm. "

When a traveler brings a gun to the airport checkpoint, the U.S. States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania requests county sheriffs to rescind a resident’s firearm concealed carry license due to negligence.