Gun found at Pittsburgh International Airport security checkpoint during busy holiday travel week

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — TSA officers at the Pittsburgh International Airport said they found a man’s loaded gun inside his wife’s carry-on bag during a busy holiday travel week. 

Transportation Security Administration officers stopped the West Virginia couple at a security checkpoint after finding a .22 caliber handgun loaded with five bullets in the wife’s bag. She told officers she didn’t know it was in there and that it belonged to her husband. He was traveling with her and confirmed it was his, officers said. 

He faces a stiff federal financial penalty for having a gun at a checkpoint, the TSA said. Allegheny County police confiscated the firearm. 

A passenger can travel with a gun, but it has to be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided locked case inside checked baggage and declared at the check-in counter.

“This is an excellent example of why it is so important the individuals pack their own bags; so they can ensure that there is nothing prohibited or illegal inside,” Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, said in a news release. “It’s the busy Independence Day travel period and this is no time to be caught with an illegal or prohibited item among your carry-on items. It slows down the line and this is a very busy place. Nobody wants to wait in a checkpoint line because someone with a gun was careless and brought his gun with him.”

It’s a busy travel time at the Pittsburgh International Airport, where long security lines prompted a travel alert last week, telling passengers with flights between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. to come up to 3 hours early. 

A Pittsburgh International Airport spokesperson said they’ve been seeing record-breaking crowds for travel this summer. To try to meet demand, starting July 8, between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays, the alternate security checkpoint will be dedicated to travelers enrolled in TSA PreCheck.

The TSA anticipated a busy stretch of travel for the Fourth of July, saying it expected to screen more than 32 million people from June 27 through July 8. On June 23, TSA screened nearly 3 million people, breaking the single-day record.