HARRISBURG, Pa. — Transportation Security Administration officers at eight Pennsylvania airports detected and prevented 82 handguns from being taken on planes last year -- including 10 at Harrisburg International Airport, the agency said Tuesday.
The number of handguns found at security checkpoints dropped slightly from 2021, when 89 guns were found, the TSA said.
Although the statewide total went down, the number of firearms caught at Philadelphia and Harrisburg International Airports increased, the TSA said. Forty-four guns were caught in Philadelphia last year, which set a new record for the number caught at the airport.
The 10 firearms found at HIA last year also set a new mark, up from the previous record of eight recovered in 2021.
On a positive note, the number of firearms caught at Pittsburgh International Airport dipped from 32 to 26.
Other airports that saw a decrease included Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, which dipped from six to one; Lehigh Valley International Airport, which saw a drop from six to zero and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, which saw a decrease from three to zero guns detected at the airport checkpoint.
Nationwide, TSA officers detected 6,542 firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2022. It was a significant increase from the 5,972 detected in 2021 and a spike from the 4,432 detected in 2019 (pre-pandemic).
Of the guns caught in 2022, approximately 88% were loaded, the TSA said.
Firearms were caught at 262 airport checkpoints nationwide.
