Fred Vankirk, Ohio Tourist, Busted For Gun Possession In NYC Hotel

A 59-year-old tourist was busted over the weekend for having not one but three guns in his New York City hotel room.

Fred Vankirk, from Columbus, Ohio, ordered room service to his room in the Radisson Hotel in midtown on Saturday morning. When a hotel employee came to deliver the food, she spotted Vankirk's .357 Magnum on the nightstand and reported it to hotel security, the New York Post reports.

When officers arrived to his room, Vankirk reportedly said, "I have three guns in the hotel room. Is that what this is about?"

Police found another .357 Magnum revolver and a .45 semiautomatic and at least one box of ammo, according to court papers obtained by the New York Post.

Vankirk, who has a gun license in his home state, told police after being arrested that he had been in New York for roughly three weeks and was carrying the guns for protection, MyFoxNY.com reports.

Vankirk was charged with three counts of second-degree gun possession and was being held on $50,000 bond, according to court papers. He faces a sentence of five to 15 years per count if convicted.

Tourists to NYC have had issues with the city's gun laws of late. In December, a Tennessee nurse was arrested for trying to check her .32-caliber pistol at the 9/11 Memorial. In September, an Indiana jeweler was arrested for trying to check his .45 Ruger at the Empire State Building, according to the New York Post.

Comments

[hoho5973]

07:05 AM on 02/01/2012

How come NYC can make gun laws that contradict the 2nd amendment, but South Carolina can't make laws that contradict the 13th amendment? Seems selective.............

[Rooster Coburn]

12:34 PM on 01/12/2012

I thought liberal ideology taught us that whatever consenting adults did in the privacy of their own bedrooms was their own business? He did it in his hotel room/bed room, he consented and is an adult. What's all the fuss about?

[Runnerman]

07:03 PM on 01/11/2012

It is OK for a idiot cop to carry a gun however a law abiding citizen who just wants to protect themselves from robbers and murders in New York City can not carry a gun even if they have a license to carry one. That is why I have no desire to go to NYC and give the city any tourist money. The punishment for a law abiding citizen to have a gun is unbelievable. People need to boycot the big apple. Spend your money someplace else. The cops are afraid of the bad guys because they carry guns and shoot back. Let the law abiding citizens alone !!!

[ScorpioTop]

11:08 PM on 01/11/2012

I'm sure NYC will do fine without you.

[David Carson]

02:49 PM on 01/12/2012

And I am looking forward to the day when NYC is forced to go to shall issue CCW and license to own gets tossed

[RevJimIII]

04:48 PM on 01/12/2012

You remind me of the Fonz..

[eaglespark]

01:58 AM on 01/11/2012

From a previous story with a similar theme-- the lady from Tennessee who tried to give her gun to a NYC police officer, after seeing a "no guns allowed" sign:

[City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens), chairman of the Public Safety Committee, personally asked Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office not to push for the 3 1/2-year minimum sentence for Meredith Graves, 39. “By prosecuting this woman and seeking 3 1/2 years of jail, we are shooting our own [gun-control] efforts in the foot and giving the rest of the country ammunition,” Vallone said...] http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/hold_your_fire_4dW6vKJHy3GFawLPw5riDM

Vallone's choice of metaphors... ;>)

[rikilii]

09:41 AM on 01/11/2012

...3 1/2-year minimum sentence...

These words alone are enough to make me sick.  What's the "minimum sentence" for spousal abuse, or reckless driving while intoxicated?

[David Carson]

01:14 PM on 01/11/2012

that tells me NYC gun laws need to be changed

[Marian Bailey]

10:33 AM on 01/13/2012

rik, not only the city, but if you bring any type of hand gun into NY STATE from another location, it's 3 1/2 yrs in jail. You can be licensed to carry in your state, but NYS doesn't honor it. It's even harder to get a ccw permit in NYS.

[ScorpioTop]

11:09 PM on 01/11/2012

Boo Hoo. No sympathy for her.

[eaglespark]

11:43 PM on 01/11/2012

"Boo Hoo. No sympathy for her."

You would like to see this lady spend years in jail, for that? Does that seem helpful, or anything like "justice", to you? The point here is that the law is unfair and does not help reduce violent crime when applied to this sort of person for that sort of violation. If you want fair considerat­ion and sympathy for your opinions here, you might try "leading by good example". Or not-- go ahead and behave in an ugly negative manner in public, if that is your choice.

[Sugarmaker]

11:14 PM on 01/10/2012

Big fine for being poitically incorrect. If the guy had actually clubbed someone to death he would face a lighter sentence. Silly.

[jimbrowndog]

11:54 PM on 01/10/2012

This guy is going to do "hard time!" Either that, or Plaxico Burress is going to sue the A$$ off the state of New York !

[sigkeeper]

11:13 PM on 01/10/2012

My Florida drivers license is valid in NYC.....why is my Florida concealed carry license not also valid there? Its time to stop this nonsense and have a national concealed carry license honored in all 50 states. Period

[fgmds]

11:17 PM on 01/10/2012

No question! Totally agree!

[jimbrowndog]

12:01 AM on 01/11/2012

Because you live in a state where government thinks rationally! Florida was the first state to enact and guarantee " Personal Right To Carry" and they have seen how well it has worked. Don't expect a state like New York to realize that any time soon! Reminds me of what Winston Churchill said. "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, but only after they have exhausted all other possibilities! "

[OCerInTN]

04:53 PM on 01/12/2012

Florida doesn't have a true "right to carry". If they did, you would not have to seek permission and get a permit.

[ScorpioTop]

10:45 PM on 01/10/2012

Talk about overkill. 3 guns? Does he have 3 hands?

[Grumpy Man]

11:45 PM on 01/10/2012

I have two computers and an iPad and an iPhone. Would you limit my right to free speech and make me give up three of them? After all, the pen is mightier than the sword.

[jimbrowndog]

12:10 AM on 01/11/2012

In New York, the "Pen" as in penitentiary is a lot mightier than the sword. Put an individual in prison for several years, because he exhibited the right to defend himself? What's wrong with that picture?

[ScorpioTop]

05:01 AM on 01/11/2012

NRA deflection #1, talk about anything other than gun use.

[schotts]

11:50 PM on 01/10/2012

ST, by your logic, I would need quite a lot of hands.

[ScorpioTop]

04:58 AM on 01/11/2012

Sad, for you.

[jimbrowndog]

10:11 PM on 01/10/2012

xflowers: Here's another one anyway, weather you want it or not. :

" Attorney Curt Crowley was at the office late one evening when he heard a filing cabinet open and close. Knowing he should be the only one in the office, he retrieved his .40-cal. handgun, peered out the door, and discovered an unknown person rifling through his cabinets. " I told him to freeze, but not in a language you can repeat," Crowley recalled. " He ended up begging me not to kill him." Crowley held the suspect at gunpoint until the police arrived.

The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson Mississippi. 10/10/11

[ScorpioTop]

10:46 PM on 01/10/2012

Random gun use stories don't change the fact that 30,000 Americans are killed by gun use yearly.

[jimbrowndog]

11:49 PM on 01/10/2012

I never said they did, but as long as you're going to play fast an loose about those 30,000 deaths, a few questions? Did you count suicides? Yes, guns might make suicide easier, but do you really believe that someone bent on suicide would not find another method? Japan has almost no private handguns, yet they have the highest rate of suicide in the world? Care to explain that? What about the number of gun related fatalities that are legitimate police shootings, or citizens defending themselves? What about the number of "gang-bangers" who are erroneously counted as victims of gun violence? The numbers of legitimate gun related accidents are infinitesimally small. If you really knew what you were talking about, you would know that more people drown in swimming pools, than by firearms. That's not even taking vehicle deaths into consideration.

If you expect to have any credibility on this forum, you have to produce facts that can be substantiated or produce links to them. That would include the break down of the statistics. NPR or MSDNC talking points won't work. I'm familiar with the "30,000" gun death figure, but don't tell half the story. I realize that some "sheeple" will accept your figure without question, but thanks to the Internet, the American public is no longer that obtuse. Misrepresenting the facts, obfuscation, or lying through omission, doesn't work anymore. The masses are educating themselves.

[schotts]

11:51 PM on 01/10/2012

When someone uses alcohol, do you remind them of how many people die each year due to alcohol?

[xflowers]

08:29 PM on 01/10/2012

Argument over food led to 4 deaths, sheriff says
Westerville teacher among victims in Hocking County

AP/HOCKING COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Before killing himself, Paul D. Gilkey, upper left, killed his son, Leroy Gilkey, 38 (upper right); and Barbara S. Mohler, 70 (lower right), and Dorothy M. Cherry, 63 (lower left).
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 05:23 PM

LOGAN, Ohio — An Ohio sheriff says an argument over what a terminally ill woman should be given to eat apparently triggered a shooting that left four people dead, including the gunman. Hocking County Sheriff Lanny North said today that Paul Gilkey was upset that relatives had given his wife tea and toast after he had already peeled an orange for her.

[Dimensio]

09:01 PM on 01/10/2012

The incident that you have related is not relevant to the current discussion.

[ScorpioTop]

10:48 PM on 01/10/2012

It shows how dangerous gun proliferation is and how unnecessary gun use is. 30,000 Americans lose their lives to gun use yearly.

[leonardstique1]

09:23 PM on 01/10/2012

A few years ago we had a similar incident in Daytona Beach Florida where four people were killed with a baseball bat

[fgmds]

11:22 PM on 01/10/2012

and the largest mass killing in the US was with a fetilizer bomb.

[estimatorone]

07:58 PM on 01/10/2012

I really don't feel sorry for the guy. Every state has different laws regarding
carry permits for guns. New York happens to be one of the most stringent
(not that it has deterred the crimminals from having guns) when it comes to
gun permits. Anyone who has a carry permit has the responsibility to know
the rules of the state he/she is traveling to. Even active duty police officers,
traveling to different states, must follow certain rules And this does not only
apply to state laws, but federal laws are also involved when you are traveling
from state to state. People who make the mistakes described, should not
only be punished for the state/federal laws they had the responsibility to follow
but also maybe lose his carry permit from the state that issued same to him. I
mean that the excuse that "I did not know" is getting a bit old. You are supposed
to know!

[jimbrowndog]

08:24 PM on 01/10/2012

Agreed !

[druschhai]

09:01 PM on 01/10/2012

I don't care if he knew or not. "Rules" can go to hades, I am concerned with the fact that he did absolutely nothing WRONG. He violated the rights of precisely no one.

[OdinsEye]

10:37 AM on 01/11/2012

" I am concerned with the fact that he did absolutely nothing WRONG. "

You mean other than break the laws of the state.

"He violated the rights of precisely no one."

Should you be allowed to run red lights so long as you don't hit anyone? If you state has a speed limit of 80 on interstate highways and you are driving in a different state where the speed limit is 65, should you be allowed to drive 80? You have violated no one's rights, but you have violated the law.

[HELLRAISER81]

07:47 PM on 01/10/2012

Better to be caught with it than without it.

[jay0958875]

07:45 PM on 01/10/2012

note to self, never spend a dime in ny.

[jimbrowndog]

07:53 PM on 01/10/2012

I live in New York State, and I have a CC. Funny, that the one place in the state where you might ostensibly need a concealed weapon, is the one place where you can't have one?

[rikilii]

10:57 PM on 01/10/2012

Buffalo?

[akcincinnati]

07:39 PM on 01/10/2012

I know how NYC, or at least their Mayor, feels about firearms. But if this fellow had a concealed carry permit in Ohio, isn't it honored in NY. I really don't know, If someone knows the law there, I would like to hear it.

BTY. If it is not honored, I will just forget NY/NYC for any future trips.

[andrwsroe]

07:49 PM on 01/10/2012

MANY STATES DO HONOR ANOTHER STATES GUN PERMITS, BUT FUNNY, MOST OF THE LIBERAL ONES AND THE ONES WITH THE HIGHEST CRIME DON'T!

[akcincinnati]

07:58 PM on 01/10/2012

How true. And the anti-Second Amendment bunch still ignores this fact and continues to preach that guns are evil.

[frisco9312]

08:15 PM on 01/10/2012

is new york a liberal state?

[RevJimIII]

07:55 PM on 01/10/2012

New York does not, to my knowledge, recognize any other State's concealed weapons permits.

http://www.saf.org/reciprocity.html

[akcincinnati]

07:59 PM on 01/10/2012

Thank you very much for this info. I sort of thought this was the case. Just another reason to stay out of NY/NYC.

[vrump]

10:06 AM on 01/11/2012

and conversly...no other state recognizes NYC permits

[Wyatt Baxter]

07:34 PM on 01/10/2012

??????????????

[teabagmetos]

07:27 PM on 01/10/2012

I went to Parsippany for Copy machine School one weekend I and another guy took the bus to Manhatten and walked around all day. This guy in a superman-like costume jumps out of an alley in front of us freezing us in our tracks we thought we were about to get mugged. Instead the guy does a song and dance that had us doubled over laughing so hard that it was another 15 min before we could stop. At the end of his little ditty we had to give him a couple bucks each just for the laughs. One of the Funniest things I ever saw but aside form free Letterman tickets or go to an Occupy, I doubt I'd ever go back.

[freerangevoter]

08:52 PM on 01/10/2012

Are you a Tea Party member that goes to OWS rallies?
If so, I think that's cool.

If OWS really is against big business colluding with big government (and not just business in general) then it would seem only natural that the two groups should get together and march on Washington.

[teabagmetos]

01:03 PM on 01/12/2012

I'm no Tea party memeber I'm a left leanind Centrist otherwise known as Moderate maybe even Blue dog Dem and am in full support of Occupy and can't stand the TeePee. People frequently make that mistake. The name goes back to AOL days before the merge when the boards were practically a free for all and the terms of service (tos) had things were anyone could ban you by marking the offensive button on all your posts. It was a real fiasco of censorship people had to change screen names every week, which led to this one. There was not enough space for me to use toscansuckmyballs, so I come up with this but It kinda backfires on me.