Halloran Calls for Manhattan DA to Drop Gun Charges Against Tourist

Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, is calling on the Manhattan district attorney’s office to drop charges against a Tennessee resident who was arrested last month after she attempted to check a loaded handgun during a visit to the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero.

Meredith Graves was arrested on Dec. 22 and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, the Manhattan DA’s office said.

Halloran said Graves, who could face up to three years in prison on the charges, had been attempting to check the gun, which was licensed to her.

“Legal gun owners come to New York City and are penalized harshly for minor violations of a law they don’t know from a state where they don’t live,” the councilman said. “If we throw a law abiding tourist in prison, we’re telling people to stop visiting New York City. And we’re taking money out of the pockets of the industries and small businesses that serve these tourists.”

The district attorney’s office had no comment on the case, a spokeswoman for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. said.

Halloran said the Tennessean was a fourth-year medical student who attempted to check her firearm after discovering that guns are not allowed at the 9/11 Memorial.

Graves has a full legal carry permit in her home state, the councilman said.

“Some of our gun laws are not only stupid, they’re unconstitutional,” Halloran said. “Good law in one state is good law in another.”

He said he believed the U.S. Senate should pass the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, a law that would allow a resident of one state to carry a firearm in a different state. The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted in favor of the bill.