Beaver Falls man arrested for bringing loaded gun to Pittsburgh International Airport

PITTSBURGH — A Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, man was arrested by the police Friday morning (Oct. 8) after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Pittsburgh International Airport detected a loaded gun in the man’s carry-on bag.

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The man told officials that the .357 caliber handgun did not belong to him; rather, it belonged to his father, yet the gun was in the traveler’s carry-on bag. He also told officials that he forgot to remove the gun from the bag, thus confirming that he knew that the gun had previously been placed inside the bag.

When the TSA officer spotted the gun in the checkpoint X-ray machine, the Allegheny County Police were alerted, confiscated the weapon and arrested the man. TSA forwarded the incident to be followed up with the issuance of a significant federal financial civil penalty.

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“There is no excuse for a traveler who tries to carry a gun onto their flight,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “The vast majority of violators claim that they forgot that they had their loaded guns with them, just like this man did. 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.”

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