Security officials at Pittsburgh International Airport on Tuesday morning seized their second gun in three days.
Transportation Security Administration officials stopped a Troy, Bradford County, woman from bringing a loaded, .380-caliber handgun that was in her backpack onto her flight Tuesday, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.
TSA officials previously had removed a revolver from a traveler’s carry-on bag on Sunday, Farbstein said.
The woman, who Farbstein did not name, now faces a civil penalty. Federal penalties for bringing weapons to the checkpoint can run as high as $15,000, depending on the circumstances.
“The high number of travelers who are bringing their loaded guns to our security checkpoints needs to stop,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the Findlay-based airport. “Travelers are responsible for the items that they have in their possession. Guns should never be brought to the security checkpoint in carry-on luggage.”
Passengers can travel with a gun only if it’s in checked baggage, unloaded and packed in a hard-sided, locked case, Farbstein said. The locked case must be declared at an airline check-in counter.
TSA has confiscated 32 guns at Pittsburgh International Airport this year to date, Farbstein said. The agency stopped 26 guns in all of 2022.
Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at airports across the country, with 88% of them loaded, Farbstein said. So far this year, TSA said it has stopped more than 4,000 guns at security checkpoints nationwide.
