A Lebanon County, Pa., man was cited by police yesterday (Feb. 20) after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) intercepted a gun at the airport security checkpoint.
The man, a resident of Myerstown, Pa., was not ticketed to fly and had received a “gate pass” to enter the secure area of the terminal because he was a musician who was scheduled to perform on the secure side of the checkpoint. To do so, he needed to go through the TSA checkpoint screening process.
As the man was divesting items into a bin on the checkpoint conveyor belt, he realized that he had forgotten to remove his loaded .380 caliber gun from his pocket. However, TSA protocol requires that individuals who have entered the checkpoint and begun the screening process must complete the process.
TSA officials notified the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority police, who confiscated the weapon and removed the man and the gun from the checkpoint. Police also cited him on a criminal charge.
“This individual realized too late that he had a loaded gun on him when he came to our security checkpoint,” explained Gerardo Spero, TSA’s Federal Security Director for Pennsylvania. “Part of being a responsible gun owner is knowing where your firearm is at all times and knowing that it is not permitted past a security checkpoint.”
The original announcement can be found here.