Posted on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 10:05 am:

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

The bodyguard, Patrick Burk, was questioned by Port Authority 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, Port Authority spokesman Tony Ciavolella said.

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

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."

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

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

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