TSA officers stop gun at Pittsburgh International Airport checkpoint on record-busy day

PITTSBURGH — TSA officers stopped a gun from getting on a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport over the weekend.

Officials say a man tried carrying his unloaded 9mm handgun that was in a bag through the airport’s busy checkpoint on Sunday, the busiest checkpoint day in TSA’s history.

“This was a rare instance in which the man had his unloaded firearm in a locked hard-sided case as he was supposed to do, and when he brought it to the airline check-in counter to declare he wanted to fly with it. Instead, the man took the case to the checkpoint,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. “The man was permitted to properly check the firearm for transport as checked baggage. However, when our officers detect a firearm at a checkpoint, it delays the passengers in that lane until the situation is resolved.”

Passengers can travel with guns only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website.

Civil penalties for bringing a weapon into a checkpoint can reach up to $15,000, depending on the specific weapon and the circumstances.

This was the 22nd gun stopped at the airport in 2024.

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