Confiscated Weapons Display Is Message To Passengers At Pittsburgh Airport

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The photo above may look like a sales display at the Army Surplus Store or a shelf at a hardware store, but it's not.

They are just some of the 2,900 pounds of items that could be used as weapons if they found their way into an airplane cabin by way of carry-on luggage.

The people in charge of security at the Pittsburgh Airport put the weapons on display as a message for passengers.

"Somebody has something like this and they're preparing to get on a plane – what are they thinking?" asked KDKA's Harold Hayes.

"Our officers are seeing a lot of passengers nationwide," said Michael McCarthy with the TSA. "One-point-eight million passengers are flying every single day, so we're going to see a whole range of items. This is going to show up in the X-ray and officers are going to see this. This is a prohibited item."

Items that may be OK in checked baggage are not necessarily OK in carry ons.

And the lists are clearly posted.

"Evidently, they're not that mindful about what's in their bags when these items are detected," said Fred Dupin, Federal Security Director of the TSA. "More often than not, the passengers are very surprised that it ended up in that bag. They forgot that it had been in there and that's more often the excuse we get."

The TSA also says that in the year 2014, 14 guns were confiscated.

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