An Ohio man who has a gun permit in his home state is the latest city tourist to be caught in the web of New York’s strict gun laws, The Post has learned.
Fred Vankirk, 59, of Columbus, was slapped with handcuffs at about 11 a.m. Saturday after cops found two .357 Magnum pistols and a .45 semiautomatic in his room at the Radisson Hotel on Lexington Avenue near East 48th Street, police sources said.
One of the Magnums, a five-shot revolver, had been spotted loaded and sitting in plain view on a nightstand, the sources said.
Vankirk, who has no criminal history, told the arresting officer, “I have three guns in the hotel room. Is that what this is about?” a court complaint alleges.
Later, in a videotaped interview at the Manhattan DA’s Office, he told authorities he had been in New York for about three weeks and had the guns for protection, police sources said.
He was charged with three counts of second-degree gun possession and being held on $50,000 bond, court papers show. Each count carries a potential sentence of five to 15 years, to be served concurrently if a conviction results.
That's f'd up.
ReplyDeleteYes. Evidently these people own guns but are not paying attention to the national scene. When we went to the 2009 March on DC, I checked the regulations carefully. Of course, you aren't allowed guns, but also can carry no knife if not under 3 inches, so I did that and stayed at a hotel in Virginia so I could carry my guns everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great case for jury nullification, if someone can get the information on nullification to the usually brain dead New Yorkers who serve on juries.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great case for jury nullification,
ReplyDeleteGood point.