"Woman, 79, arrested for carrying gun at Florida airport"

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Woman, 79, arrested for carrying gun at Broward airport
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel


A 79-year-old woman, toting a handgun in her carry-on bag, was arrested
today at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Here is what BSO Public Information Officer Jim Leljedal says led to the
arrest of Margaret Anderson:

Anderson was inside Terminal 3, planning to board a Bahamas Air flight to
the Bahamas, when airport screeners noticed something suspicious as her
carry-on tote bag passed through the x-ray scanner. The scanner screen
revealed a small handgun inside the woman's luggage. BSO deputies responded
to the checkpoint and took Anderson and her bags into custody.

Inside the tote bag deputies found a gun case, designed to resemble a
hardbound book, containing a single-shot Colt derringer. The gun was
unloaded but seven .22 caliber bullets were in the case next to the weapon.
The case is imprinted with the words "Colt Derringer" and has the Colt
Firearms Company logo on the side, front and inside lid.

Anderson told BSO Deputy Joy Farrow that she knew the gun case contained a
pistol, but that she had forgotten that it was in her tote bag. The woman
said she put the gun case in the tote bag when she moved recently and never
removed it. She said she decided to use the bag when she packed for her
Bahamas trip.

Anderson was booked at the Broward County Jail on a charge of Carrying a
Concealed Firearm, a third degree felony carrying a maximum penalty of five
years in prison and a $5,000 fine. She was released on $1,000 bond.


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