Meredith Graves Could Force Gun Law Change After 9/11 Memorial Arrest

Meredith Graves Could Force Gun Law Change After 9/11 Memorial Arrest
The Tennessee tourist accused of bringing a handgun to the 9/11 Memorial could force a change in New York's tough weapons possession law, according to the New York Post.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), whose district includes Ground Zero, said he will have a "committee ... see how exactly the law is being enforced and to look at the possibility that there should be changes in the law," the newspaper reported.

The changes could include being more lenient on people who mistakenly bring guns from other states where they are legally licensed.

Meredith Graves, 39, was arrested Dec. 22 when she tried to check her loaded .32-caliber gun in with a cop at the memorial. She had a permit to carry the gun in Tennessee, but that did not apply in New York state.

She's facing a gun possession charge that carries a minimum of three-and-a-half years in prison.

She was also accused of having cocaine, but the Post reported tests showed the powder was found to be nothing illegal.

Silver told the Post, "Her actions show a clear indication that she didn't know she was breaking the law, and when she saw [a no guns] sign, she said, 'OK, I do have a gun. Take it from me.'

"There was no criminal intent." SOURCE:

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Tennessee woman is facing several years in prison under New York's tough gun laws after she brought a loaded handgun to the 9/11 Memorial last week.

Police arrested Meredith Graves, 39, for carrying a .32-caliber pistol to the entrance of the lower Manhattan memorial on Dec. 22, according to the criminal complaint and reports.

Graves, a fourth-year medical student visiting New York for a job interview, forgot she had the piece in her purse when she arrived at the memorial, the New York Post reported.

She then asked police stationed at the site where she could check the firearm, quickly landing her in handcuffs when cops realized she was not law enforcement, the Post reported.

Graves is charged with second-degree weapons possession, which carries a minimum of three-and-a-half years in prison. The Post reported she has a carry permit for Tennessee, but that does not apply to New York City.

A Legal Aid attorney who represented Graves at her arraignment is no longer on the case and did not know who she had retained as new counsel.

She is currently free on $2,000 bail and due back in court on March 19.

The head of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum said the ban on weapons at the sacred site should not come as a surprise to anyone.

"People should not bring guns to the site. It's so obvious — you shouldn't have to say it," president Joe Daniels told DNAinfo Thursday.

Not even retired police officers are allowed to have weapons at the site.

In late September, DNAinfo reported that retired police who arrived to pay respects at the Ground Zero site were angry at a city policy to include them in the ban on all registered weapons entering the property except for on-duty officers.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that this was not the first person to try to bring a weapon onto the 9/11 Memorial property, only to discover they couldn't bring it inside. A loaded .38 caliber handgun was found Tuesday under a table near metal detectors that screen visitors before they enter the Memorial, the Post reported.