PITTSBURGH — Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Butler man from bringing his 9mm handgun onto a flight at Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday, marking the 22nd gun caught at the checkpoint this year.
In all of 2020, 21 guns were caught at the airport.
When TSA officers spotted the gun in the checkpoint X-ray machine, they alerted Allegheny County Police who then confiscated the unloaded weapon and temporarily detained the man for questioning.
“I’ll say this as clearly and directly as possible. Firearms are not permitted to be carried through a TSA security checkpoint. Period,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “It doesn’t matter if you have a concealed carry permit. A permit does not give you permission to bring a gun or any other weapon onto an airplane. That’s why TSA was created—to prevent anyone from bringing a weapon onto a plane that could possibly result in a security threat to the well-being of the passengers, crew and aircraft.
“In addition, people who bring their guns to TSA checkpoints face a federal financial civil penalty that can cost them thousands of dollars.”
TSA reserves the right to issue a $3,000 to $13,910 civil penalty to travelers who have loaded guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though an individual may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
Travelers are not permitted to carry their guns onto airplanes, however, passengers are allowed to transport their firearms as checked baggage if they are properly packed and declared at their airline ticket counter to be transported in the belly of the plane with checked baggage. Checked firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website.
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