Tenn. Tourist Faces 3 Years in Prison for Trying to Check Her Gun at 9/11 Memorial

NEW YORK (The Blaze/AP) -- A tourist from Tennessee reportedly thought she could check her loaded gun at New York City's Sept. 11 memorial.

The New York Post says 39-year-old Meredith Graves was visiting the memorial at the World Trade Center site on Dec. 22 and noticed a sign that said "No guns allowed." The Post reports that Graves asked police where she could check her loaded pistol. She was arrested on a gun-possession charge:

Graves, a fourth-year medical student, showed up at the memorial on Dec. 22 to pay her respects during a trip north for a job interview.

She didn’t realize that the loaded .32-caliber pistol in her purse would be a problem until she saw a sign at the site that read, “No guns allowed,” sources said.

“She remembered she had the gun on her,” a source said. She walked up to a security guard and said, “I have this gun. Where can I check it?”

The guard told her that she was in luck because of “law enforcement day” — and led her to another area.

When she got to that section, she asked another cop, “We have this gun — can we check it in here? We [my husband and I] are not law-enforcement.”

That’s when she was arrested.

Graves has a legal permit to carry a weapon in Tennessee, but New York's gun laws are stricter. She got the gun into the city because she drove from Tennessee.

The Post says Graves posted bond and is due back in court March 19. She faces 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted.

The newspaper says her attorney at Legal Aid did not return phone calls.

“You’d think states would reciprocate with the Second Amendment. She has a license to carry in Tennessee,” her mother-in-law, who lives in New Jersey, told the Post.

“Everyone down there carries, and she just forgot,” the woman, who wouldn't give her name, said. “She was being honest, and this is the treatment they give innocent people.”