Patrick Burk Was Trying To Do The Right Thing
By ANN Senior Correspondent Kevin "Hognose" O'Brien
A Personal Message From Hognose
We at Aero-News didn't know it was
going to happen to Patrick Burk (whom we don't know personally).
But we knew it was going to happen.
Burk, of course, is the 34-year-old man widely (if not entirely
accurately) reported as a bodyguard of Michael Moore's, who was
arrested at La Guardia Airport trying to travel with his unloaded
gun checked safely in his luggage, as required by Federal law. As
the article below explains, three local prosecuting attorneys, in
Boston, Albany, and Queens County (where LGA and JFK are), have
decided to concentrate their resources on this kind of non-violent
technical violation. Is it even a violation? Not according to
explicit Federal Law (Volkmer-McClure, 1986). But it is a violation
of the de facto handgun bans in those cities -- and travelers risk
jail by merely transiting those places.
Patrick Burk is not a Mafia button man, a Jamaican drug posse
leader, or any of the other violent criminals the Queens County
prosecutor couldn't be bothered with. He's a former Marine and an
armed guard for the high-profile celebrity security firm of Gavin
de Becker, which specializes in the sort of security demanded by
Hollywood egos who are threatened by relentless paparazzi and
unhinged stalkers. While Burk has guarded Moore among many others,
and had very recently been guarding Moore, de Becker has been at
pains to clarify that Burk is a professional bodyguard and a
full-time employee of de Becker, and not of Moore.
Poor Burk was obeying the Federal law, and now finds himself
arrested and charged -- exactly as I predicted in the article,
below -- with a state felony; and according to New York gun-rights
experts, he's "screwed." He's likely to lose his livelihood and his
liberty, all because he was following explicit Federal law about
people who legally travel with weapons. For the time being, anyone
who travels with a gun, including professional security men,
defense contractors, and soldiers, is advised to avoid New York
City, Albany, and Boston, and anyone traveling to or through these
cities should leave his or her gun at home; buy extra life
insurance instead.
I wrote this story in July/August, 2004, and submitted it to
Aero-News on August 1st. At the time, the story apparently didn't
run (it was the middle of the Oshkosh crush). But the case of
Patrick Burk brings this issue to the front burner -- and I feel
guilty, because if the article had run, and Burk had read it
(unlikely, I'll admit), he might have been saved a lot of hassle--
or worse. If you own a gun and travel you could run into the same
risks Burk did, and your attempts to comply with Federal law could
lead an ambitious prosecutor to try to make an example of you.
Gun rights groups are up in arms,
you might say, about enforcement actions being taken in New York
and Boston by local prosecutors. A Federal law from 1986 allows
people who own guns to carry them, unloaded and locked in checked
luggage, from one place where they're legal to another where
they're legal, without getting busted for technical violations of
gun laws enroute.
Anyway, who would think you are "carrying" a gun, locked in your
Samsonite in the belly of the Boeing? What kind of knucklehead
interprets a law like that?
The kind of knucklehead that's District Attorney in Albany
County and Queens in New York, and Suffolk County in Massachusetts,
that's who.
In an email alert from Jacob J. Rieper, Legislative Director,
the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association warned their
members: "They [the DAs] issued an order to arrest anyone coming
through the airports with a handgun in their luggage, regardless if
the handgun was being transported properly by FAA regulations."
If you do not have a state license, which is largely available
only to state residents, you get to meet exciting and interesting
people and share a cell with them.
Apparently the degree to which gun-owning travelers are
"screwed" (NYSRPA's word) depends on whether they flew into New
York, and then tried to fly out, or drove into New York, perhaps
because a NY airport is the closest commercial airport, and they
tried to fly out. (The situation in Boston is unclear, but rights
groups say it's similar).
It also depends on what jurisdiction they're in. In Albany
county, the traveler is charged with a low-level misdemeanor. In
Queens county (where LGA is), he or she is charged with a felony.
The gun or guns is confiscated and destroyed either way -- even if
the traveler is acquitted. (Well, they are supposed to be
confiscated and destroyed. Given New York law enforcement history,
they are probably sold to the Mafia).
These same DAs usually give drug dealers and button men a pass
on the gun charges... but it's a lot easier to make a case against
some poor throg who declares his unloaded, secured weapon in
compliance with Federal laws, than it is to make a case against an
actual criminal. And case statistics are important to District
Attorneys, a larval form of politician.
New York and Massachusetts have highly politicized handgun
permitting processes, and neither state recognizes out of state
permits (reciprocal recognition of permits is common in other
states, and travelers may not be aware of these exceptions).
In the case of the person who has
flown into New York with a gun, he has committed a technical
violation of the state law (yes, by obeying the Federal one), and
gun rights groups like NYSRPA and NRA can do little to help. On the
people who drive to the airport and attempt to depart, whose case
was clearly considered in the 1986 McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners
Protection Act, "even the Sheriff's office and TSA in Albany have
argued over that with the DA, but he won't budge."
Does Rieper have any recommendations for the traveler passing
through New York (or, presumably, Massachusetts)? Definitely:
"UNLESS you are in possession of a VALID New York pistol license,
DO NOT bring a handgun in your luggage to the airport, you will be
charged."
Is this common? "This is not being done in any other state in
the country except at Logan international in Boston... even at
O'Hare in Illinois, if you come in from another state and meet FAA
guidelines, they feel you are covered by FOPA, and off you go, a
happy camper."
Aero-News readers who own guns would be well advised to leave
them at home, or avoid traveling to, through or via Massachusetts
and New York, lest their scalps wind up hanging from some DA's
belt. This would apply equally whether they were GA or line pilots,
crew, or passengers. Passengers need to check their routing. If you
change planes or lines in New York or Boston, a legally transported
handgun can land you in jail.