TSA checkpoint finds 36th gun at Pittsburgh International Airport, sets new record
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Another person was stopped with a gun at Pittsburgh International Airport. It is the 36th gun found since January, breaking a record for the most guns found in a year.
According to the TSA, a man from Uniontown was stopped Tuesday with a 9-millimeter handgun loaded with five bullets in his carry-on bag. The TSA confiscated the gun and arrested him. The man is facing a federal fine.
"We seem to have a very disturbing number of guns being carried to our checkpoints this month," said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA's Federal Security Director for the airport.
"Tuesday's gun catch was the sixth firearm caught in the first 10 days of the month and the 36th gun caught so far this year. Thirty-six is now our record-high number of guns caught at our checkpoints in a single year. Let me be very clear when I say that there is absolutely no excuse for bringing a gun to our checkpoints. Stop and think about it--you certainly can't carry a firearm onto your flight."
The prior record was in 2019 when TSA officers caught 35 guns. Firearms caught at the Pittsburgh International Airport went down in 2022 when 32 firearms were caught in 2021, and only 26 in 2022.
According to the TSA, 6,542 firearms were caught at airport security checkpoints across the United States. Through August, officers detected more than 5,000 guns at checkpoints in 2023.
"Unfortunately, Pittsburgh International Airport is part of this unfortunate trend," Keys-Turner said.