FILE - A Transportation Security Administration officer works at Dallas Love Field Airport on June 24, 2020, in Dallas. A man was arrested Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, after an explosive was found in a bag checked onto a Florida-bound flight at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa., federal authorities said. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
A big reason for the spike was the record number of guns detected at Philadelphia International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport.
There was a significant uptick in the number of guns Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers detected at Pennsylvania airport security checkpoints last year. TSA officers stopped 103 handguns at Pennsylvania airports in 2023, an increase of more than 25% from the 82 guns detected in 2022.
The number of guns officers nabbed at Philadelphia International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport contributed to the spike. Records were set for the most guns caught in a single year at each airport in 2023, with 45 guns caught at the airport checkpoints in Philadelphia (the previous record was 44 set in 2022), and 43 guns detected at the Pittsburgh airport checkpoints (the previous record was 35 set in 2019).
Neither Philadelphia or Pittsburgh came anywhere close to having the most guns detected at TSA checkpoints. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport led the way with 451.
Here’s the breakdown of gun detection at Pennsylvania airports in 2023:
- Philadelphia International Airport – 45
- Pittsburgh International Airport – 44
- Harrisburg International Airport – 8
- Erie International Airport – 2
- Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport – 2
- Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (Latrobe) – 1
- Lehigh Valley International Airport – 1
- University Park Airport (State College) – 0
Nationwide, TSA officers detected 6,737 firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2023. It was a significant increase from the 6,542 detected in 2022. Of the guns caught in 2023, approximately 93 percent were loaded. Firearms were caught at 265 airport checkpoints nationwide. Ten years ago, just 1,813 firearms were detected.
Travelers who bring firearms to the checkpoint are subject to criminal charges from law enforcement and civil penalties from TSA. Even if a traveler has a concealed weapon permit, firearms are not permitted to be carried onto an airplane. However, travelers with proper firearm permits can travel legally with their firearms in their checked bags if they follow a few simple guidelines.
Author
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Pennsylvanians and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at The Keystone has always been to empower people across the commonwealth with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Pennsylvania families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.
Shooting at a historically Black university’s homecoming fest in Pennsylvania kills 1 and wounds 6
Investigators were operating under a "strong belief" that there was more than one shooter but did not think they came to the Lincoln University...
Bucks County inmate work release program won’t be suspended despite rash of escapes
Bucks County Corrections Department officials have no plans to suspend a work release program in the wake of two additional inmates who failed to...
What to know about the arson fire and attempted murder at the Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion
No one was injured but the April 13 fire did considerable damage to the governor's mansion. Shapiro said the attack has made his family feel unsafe....
Pennsylvania man pleads guilty in arson attack at governor’s mansion while Shapiro’s family slept
A man who scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and used beer bottles filled with gasoline to ignite the...
2 Pennsylvania state police officers are shot in an exchange of gunfire with suspect who was killed
Two state police officers in Pennsylvania pursuing a vehicle were shot in an exchange of gunfire with a suspect who was killed, authorities said....
