FINLEY TWP., Pa. — An Ohio woman was stopped from bringing a loaded firearm onto a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday.
The woman, from Youngstown, was carrying a 9mm handgun loaded with seven bullets, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
The gun was found in her purse during the security check. Allegheny County Police responded, confiscated the gun and questioned the woman.
According to a release, TSA has stopped 16 firearms from being brought onto planes at Pittsburgh International Airport so far this year.
Police reported the woman said she forgot the gun was in her purse.
Nationwide, TSA officers detected 3,257 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year, although the total number of passengers screened at airport checkpoints across the country fell by 500 million compared to 2019 due to the pandemic. The result was that twice as many firearms per million passengers screened were detected at checkpoints in 2020, compared to 2019. In 2020, TSA caught approximately 10 firearms per million passengers as compared to about five firearms per million passengers in 2019. Of the guns caught by TSA in 2020, about 83 percent were loaded.
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