Arizona man arrested for smuggling loaded gun into Pittsburgh International Airport

PHOENIX — Police arrested an Arizona man on suspicion of smuggling a loaded gun into Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) hasn’t revealed the man’s name. However, the announcement said officials found a .380 caliber gun loaded with five bullets among his belongings.

“When the man unzipped his laptop bag at the security checkpoint, his loaded gun fell onto the floor,” TSA said.

TSA officers took the firearm and contacted police, who confiscated the weapon and arrested the Arizona man. Now he’s facing federal penalties as high as $15,000 for failing to handle guns at the airport properly.

Can you bring a gun to the Pittsburgh International Airport?

In its announcement, TSA outlined the proper guidelines for bringing a gun to the airport — without being arrested.

What the Arizona man should have done is pack the gun in a hard-sided locked case, TSA said. No bullets should be inside a gun at the airport. Locked cases with unloaded guns should then go to the airline check-in counter and be declared so the airport is fully informed.

TSA said incidents like this aren’t rare.

“Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at 262 out of 430 airport security checkpoints nationwide,” TSA’s announcement said. “Eighty-eight percent were loaded.”