Man cited for trying to carry antique pistol onto plane at international airport

By Alexandra Simon

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — A man from Central Pennsylvania was cited at Philadelphia International Airport over the weekend after Transportation Security Administration officials found an antique revolver in his carry-on luggage.

TSA said the revolver, which wasn’t loaded, was detected among the Middletown resident’s clothing on June 9. The man reportedly told security officers the antique firearm was a gift from his dad.

“This individual learned a hard lesson about the proper way to transport a firearm for a flight,” Gerardo Spero, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport, said in a statement. “You just don’t toss a firearm into a carry-on bag along with your clothes, even if it is unloaded. Now, in addition to being charged with a criminal citation by the police, the man also faces a stiff financial civil penalty for bringing a gun to a TSA security checkpoint.”

According to the TSA, the financial penalty for carrying a weapon into the airport can be as high as $15,000.

The confiscation marks the 15th firearm caught at PHL checkpoints so far this year. In all of 2023, TSA agents caught 45 firearms at the airport, a new record for the most guns caught at Philadelphia’s security checkpoints in a single year.

Data from the TSA shows the number of guns recovered at PHL was on a steady decline between 2017 and 2019. Then between 2019 and 2022, the number of guns confiscated at the airport increased by about five each year.

2017: 35 guns 2018: 35 guns 2019: 20 guns 2020: 26 guns 2021: 39 guns 2022: 44 guns 2023: 45 guns 2024: 15 guns as of June 9

Airport security experts attributed the uptick to a combination of more people traveling and more people opting to own a gun.

Across eight Pennsylvania airports, agents confiscated a total of 103 guns in 2023, a serious uptick in confiscations from the 82 taken in 2022.

In order to travel with a firearm or ammunition, fliers need to store unloaded guns in a locked, hard-sided container. Firearms can only be transported as checked luggage, and need to be declared at the airline ticket counter. More information on how to travel with a firearm can be found on the TSA’s website.

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