Transportation Security Administration officers in Pennsylvania discovered a loaded handgun in an unusual spot Thursday: a baby stroller.
A man was arrested Thursday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport after TSA officers discovered a .380-caliber handgun loaded with six bullets tucked into a pocket in a stroller. TSA officers discovered the gun after physically inspecting the stroller, which was too large to fit through the X-ray unit at the airport.
Westmoreland County Park Police confiscated the weapon and arrested the man on a weapons charge. The man claimed he was a resident of Morgantown, West Virginia, although his driver’s license indicated he was a resident of Houston, Pennsylvania.
The man claimed he carries the gun in the stroller during walks in the park with his girlfriend, dogs and child and forgot to remove it before arriving at the airport.
Transportation Security Administration officers at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport caught a loaded handgun inside a baby stroller on June 24. (Photo: Transportation Security Administration)
“Just because an individual is traveling with a young child in a baby stroller doesn’t automatically mean they get a free pass at a checkpoint,” Karen Keys-Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, said in a Friday statement. “If you own a firearm, you should know where it is at all times. Not knowing that you have a loaded gun with you is an accident waiting to happen.”
While passengers can transport firearms as checked baggage if they are properly checked and declared at an airline ticket counter, they cannot carry guns onto airplanes.
It was the fourth handgun discovered by the TSA at the Pennsylvania airport so far this year. In 2019, when passenger volumes were higher, three handguns were discovered.
The agency recently announced the return of self-defense training as the number of unruly passengers at airports climbs.
‘Critical to everyone’s safety’: TSA resumes self-defense training amid uptick of unruly passengers
Travel picking up: TSA screens more than 2 million on Friday for the first time since the pandemic hit
‘Accident waiting to happen’: TSA is finding more loaded guns in luggage as flyers return
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