[Local News] Thirty-Six and Counting

[HDGristle]

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.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/n...point-in-2023/

[Jacuzzme]

Why only load 5 rounds? Even the micro 9s hold 7.

[HDGristle]

The logic of the moron who goes to the airport thinking carry-on means you can carry a firearm in it isn't supposed to make sense to you.

[eyecu2]

If you were to recall that you forgot to leave your firearm at home and you arrive at the airport, what would you do?

1. Find a locker- Do they even have those anymore-I don't think so.

2. drop it in the garbage can instead of having an issue with TSA and a record that follows you.

3. Ask a cop on duty to see what they suggest on what is to be done when that happens?(this sounds like the best idea from my perspective-provided you have a CCP)

4. Skip on back to your car and chance missing your flight to drop that off and risk having someone steel it from your car.

no perfect answer.

[HDGristle]

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/res...arms/airports/

[Big Daddy Joe]

Originally Posted by Jacuzzme

Why only load 5 rounds? Even the micro 9s hold 7.

Could have been one of those old snub nose revolver that interchange the cylinders from 9mm to 38.
They were somewhat popular in the 80's. Or at least thats when I recall them in gun mags.
They might hold five fully loaded.
Or maybe the absent minded professor just forgot to top it off.

[onawbtngr546]

Originally Posted by eyecu2

If you were to recall that you forgot to leave your firearm at home and you arrive at the airport, what would you do?

1. Find a locker- Do they even have those anymore-I don't think so.

2. drop it in the garbage can instead of having an issue with TSA and a record that follows you.

3. Ask a cop on duty to see what they suggest on what is to be done when that happens?(this sounds like the best idea from my perspective-provided you have a CCP)

4. Skip on back to your car and chance missing your flight to drop that off and risk having someone steel it from your car.

no perfect answer.

Honestly, #4 is the most logical thing to do. You're supposed to arrive at the airport with ample time to account for the unexpected. And there is still a chance that your car gets broken in to at the airport parking regardless of if you have a gun in there or not. I just honestly hope that someone who has to do this tries to hide the gun in their car reasonably well... but if this is the same brainlet who tried to go through TSA with a gun, the bar needs to be set into the floor to begin with

[flows-with-water]

Good way for POd wife or significant other to fk with you big time.

[DrivesAllDay]

Originally Posted by flows-with-water

Good way for POd wife or significant other to fk with you big time.

True! I always thought, if I wanted to be a HUGE asshole to someone, cut out a handgun silhouette out of sheet metal, and hide it in the lining of their luggage.

[Devo]

Well, you'd have to be a gun person, a REAL gun person, not a Biden point the shotgun and let em have both barrels, gun person, to understand.

Some of us have lots of guns, and, sometimes you just forget shit, I went to Canada, and my hunting jacket had a hole in the inner pocket and a 357 cartridge had slipped through and fell to the bottom of the coat, lodged in with the insulation, I found it, and just tossed it in a garbage can after wiping it down.

You enter Canada or Mexico with a single pistol round, you are likely going to jail if caught.

I have a loaded firearm in EVERY vehicle I own, and, they live there full time, its easier than trying to grap a pistol every time you leave the house.

I don't fly often, so, its not likely I'd have a gun in a suitcase or carry bag, I did use to keep a pistol in my contractor briefcase, and it went everywhere I did, city county building, even after they put up no guns allowed signs, I always checked them at buildings that did have security and had no issues.

Now PI as I understand it, you can have a firearm, until you go through security, just in the common areas anyone can access without a boarding pass.

If you are at that point just turn around lock it in the trunk, hide it whatever, if your already through, well, your screwed.

I have a dual lock airline approved briefcase that I have used, they aren't expensive, and, I'd probably suggest you keep it as your only place a gun goes when you go to the airport.

I don't see any of these cases as an attempt to avoid security, but one time checking my pistols in at the aiport, the lady taking my bording pass asked me if I wanted to take them onboard with me, I asked if she was trying to set me up, and explained they had to be checked with my baggage, she just did not understand how the process worked.

Figured I was a cop, and, as were walking to the TSA booth to check the gun, she told me she wasn't afraid to fly after 911, because she said on every flight, there were 2 or 3 guys like me, who'd stand up and take the terrorist(s) down if they attempted a high jacking.

And she's right, I always have a solid steel pen with a bubble level in it, when I fly, in my shirt pocket, always passed security, your seat cushion, with the handle on the bottom makes a passble shield from a box cutter, and, I'd stab the bastard in the neck or eye if I had to.

I'm not going to be the next Todd Beamer, who died to be a the cover story for us shooting flight 93 down.

[Devo]

Originally Posted by DrivesAllDay

True! I always thought, if I wanted to be a HUGE asshole to someone, cut out a handgun silhouette out of sheet metal, and hide it in the lining of their luggage.

Yeah, you'd be an asshole!

I'd do a dick cutout, embarrassing but, not likely to get someone killed by security.

[Devo]

Oh, and, the reason this occurs more is simple, everyday, more people buy guns and concealed carry, the numbers of privately owned handguns sold in recent years, and there are a lot of new gun owners who aren't nuanced enough to think, "Where is my gun" at any given time.

If the number of guns being carried doubles, so do the chances of a forgotten one showing up at an airport.

[HDGristle]

More irresponsibility with guns at Pittsburgh International.

https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/relea...ive-last-eight

[Devo]

Originally Posted by HDGristle

More irresponsibility with guns at Pittsburgh International.

https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/relea...ive-last-eight

Better to have a gun if you need it, than not.

Intention, intention, intention.

[HDGristle]

Except at the airport on your person or in your carry-on as you're walking through security when you're not in one of the few groups permitted to carry.

Red Forman has a word for that kind of person.

That word is "Dumbass"

I hear a lot from certain folks about freedom. Usually don't hear much about accountability. These folks are going to get a lil of that.