Michael Moore's Bodyguard Arrested on Airport Gun Charge

HoustonChronicle.com Jan. 21, 2005, 5:14PM

Debunked? Not according to the AP . . .

Michael Moore bodyguard arrested on gun charge at airport
Associated Press

NEW YORK — A bodyguard who has protected outspoken moviemaker and gun-control advocate Michael Moore was arrested at Kennedy International Airport for allegedly carrying a pistol without a New York license, authorities said Thursday.

Patrick Burk, 34, was arraigned Thursday evening on a felony charge of criminal possession of a weapon and was released on his own recognizance, said Patrick Clark, a spokesman for the Queens district attorney's office. A return court date was set for Feb. 3.

Burk was questioned by police Wednesday night after he notified a United Airlines ticket agent that he wanted to carry his weapon — unloaded and in a bag — on a flight to Los Angeles, said Port Authority spokesman Tony Ciavolella.

The bodyguard, who works for the California-based security firm Gavin de Becker & Associates, told police he had traveled to New York with Moore earlier this month, Ciavolella said. He produced licenses for his Mauser handgun from California and Florida, but not New York, which prompted his arrest.

Burk's attorney, Marc Greenwald, said his client "was following proper airline procedures when he was checking in and informed the airline that he had an unloaded and locked weapon in his checked baggage, which he is entitled to do."

Moore spokesman Mark Benoit said the filmmaker "wasn't there and had nothing do with this."

Burk has been assigned to protect Moore at times in the past but is not his personal bodyguard, Gavin de Becker said.

De Becker defended Burk, saying he had followed proper procedures at the airport. He called him "a leading professional in his field."

Moore, the director of Fahrenheit 9/11, won the documentary Academy Award for 2002's Bowling for Columbine, a scathing look at the gun culture in America.

In an interview last year with Playboy magazine, Moore called the National Rifle Association a "radical, freaky group."

"Most Americans are with me on this," he said about stricter gun controls. "They understand duck hunters don't need Uzis and cop-killer bullets."

When asked to comment Thursday on the arrest of Moore's bodyguard, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said: "Based on empirical evidence, this is the height of hypocrisy."

GeeWhiz, I guess M.Moore hires "duck hunters" to protect him, huh? What a dangerous idiot he is. Still, about 40% of our citizens are just as stupid and dangerous . . . dangerous to our country's freedom, that is.
 
In 1995 I spent most of the night in Queens County jail after declaring 7 firearms at JFK to the Delta agent. I then left my lady with the luggage and went to return the rental car. I came back to a greeting by about 12 uniformed officers. Said agent had thrown the bags on the conveyor without mentioning it and they were X-Rayed. Oops.

After much to-do, with some very scary weapons handling by the cops, they decided to take my lady off the plane, explaining that my dog would be fine in the travel kennel....going to Phoenix....in JULY! The female Delta agent, knowing that I was flying first class back when that actually mattered, took pity on me, got on the radio and looked directly at me with a smile as she reported to the Sergeant "Sorry, but that plane is already sealed and about to leave the gate".

Sergeant was not happy. I was detained while they "tracked down the prosecutor". In fairness, I was treated quite well by the desk cop at the holding tank and soon allowed out of the cell. Ultimately, they asked that I "voluntarily surrender the weapons for safekeeping" until the next flight. I did and signed the paper.

Off to the hotel. Wake up. Make the phone calls.....no weapons would be forthcoming. Flew to Phoenix, immediately purchased a LW Commander in protest and began the 18 month struggle to get my property back. At one point they needed "to fire the weapons to see if any were used in a crime". At another, they couldn't seem to find the weapons....a call from a local reporter resolved that one real quick.

18 months, 1 NRA attorney and 1NYC FFL later and all was back to normal.

Moral of the story:
Stay away from foreign nations when carrying firearms.
Rich
 
Everytime I see that guy's picture I get sick to my stomach. Someone needs to smack his mother in the face for having a child that ugly. On Bowling for Columbine hes quick to point out the number of gun related deaths in the USA, but he never points out have many were in self defense.
 
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Rich, you have my sympathies and condolences. The only time I have even SEEN New York was from a military trainer jet at 39,000 feet and the experiance still gave me the creeps.

But as for the mercinary who is taking Michael Moore's money to keep that same SOS from being rightfully mobbed, tarrred, feathered and ridden out on a rail, not one tear will be shed.
 
To every one saying bad things about moore I wish you would stop

You are all, well your just being way to KIND.

And I am going to have night mairs over that picture, I'm going to hold my N frame Smith to my chest and sleep with one eye open and pray he does not come into my room.

On second thought maybe,,,,,,,,,,,
 
Ok never mind about the complaint about his picture

Remember the Ossamy ben laden targets?

Well thanks to the person that placed the picture on the thread.
I now have a new target to use.
 
Moore's people havn't debunked the greater issue. Which, that URL sums up well.

As for the issue that we raised, the hypocrisy of Moore...in my opinion it still stands. It goes back to the first time we heard that Moore was hiring armed guards. He considers his own safety paramount, and feels that a weapon can protect him, but he doesn’t want the average American to have that same protection.

He also went to Miami loudly during the election.. not a peep out of him about what he saw.. hmm....
 
Both Rich and this bodyguard have my condolences for their outrageous treatment at the hands of NYC cops and airports - I can't believe they tried to steal your guns Rich, forcing you to get a lawyer and wait 1.5 YEARS to get them back. That's so outrageous it's unfathomable to me. For nothing more than doing exaclty what you're supposed to do. Declare/check your guns when flying.

As for Moore, yes he's a hypocrite, debunked or not, since he uses armed bodyguards at all. But still, it would have been a better scenario for crystallizing the irony in the mind of the public had THIS bodyguard been his....question - is it only HIS people who deny that he worked for Moore? Because if so, I would expect as much from them, true or untrue.

Edit: Whoa, wait a sec - it's NOT DEBUNKED at all - he apparently was in fact Moore's (one or more time) bodyguard. Makes no difference at all whether he was guarding him on that day, in terms of making the hypocrisy point. This is the best that the security firm can do?:

You could as accurately say “A bodyguard that was once assigned to protect President Clinton,” because Patrick Burk has also been assigned to protect President Clinton in the past - but you wouldn’t be accurate if you said “President Clinton’s Bodyguard.”
Click to expand...

Bzzzt! My ass. You most certainly could also fairly call him president Clinton's bodyguard (or one of them), even if he'd only been assigned to him but ONCE. While it might be MORE accurate to say "A bodyguard that was once assigned to protect Michael Moore", it's not INaccurate to say "Michael's Moore's bodyguard" - not really. In fact, use either one - it doesn't matter - the hypocrisy/irony is still demonstrable *IF* he in fact carried/used a gun WHEN he protected Moore, and he almost assuredly did!

P.S. If it's "not de-bunked" when found to be true, then does that mean the story is "bunked" if found to be true?
 
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