Security agents catch 10th gun this year at Pittsburgh airport

Security officers at Pittsburgh International Airport on Thursday stopped the 10th person this year trying to bring a gun through the airport’s checkpoint, officials said.

A Transportation Security Administration officer spotted the gun in a man’s carry-on bag as it passed through the X-ray scanner, said TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.

It’s the 10th gun caught at the checkpoint in Pittsburgh so far this year, reaching nearly half of last year’s total in the first quarter of the year.

The 50-year-old Cranberry man told Allegheny County Police he’d forgotten to take the gun out of his backpack. Police said the man had a valid concealed carry permit and will not face criminal charges. Police took the loaded .45-caliber handgun and the man was allowed to fly.

Farbstein said he will face federal civil fines, however. A first offense can cost more than $4,000, and fines can reach more than $13,000 depending on the circumstances.

“It’s important to understand that even if someone has a concealed carry permit, they are not permitted to carry it onto an airplane,” said Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for Pittsburgh International. “The county police might not arrest someone with a concealed carry permit, but that’s certainly not going to stop TSA from issuing a stiff federal civil penalty to someone who tries to carry a gun onto an airplane.”

Of the 10 guns found at the airport’s checkpoints, six were found in February.

Authorities caught 21 guns at the checkpoint last year, lower than previous years because of a drop in travel amid the covid-19 pandemic. In all, officers caught 3,257 guns at 234 airports. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport topped the list with 220.