Metro

Another tourist busted for guns

An Ohio man who has a gun permit in his home state is the latest city tourist to be caught in the web of New York’s strict gun laws, The Post has learned.

Fred Vankirk, 59, of Columbus, was slapped with handcuffs at about 11 a.m. Saturday after cops found two .357 Magnum pistols and a .45 semiautomatic in his room at the Radisson Hotel on Lexington Avenue near East 48th Street, police sources said.

One of the Magnums, a five-shot revolver, had been spotted loaded and sitting in plain view on a nightstand, the sources said.

Vankirk, who has no criminal history, told the arresting officer, “I have three guns in the hotel room. Is that what this is about?” a court complaint alleges.

Later, in a videotaped interview at the Manhattan DA’s Office, he told authorities he had been in New York for about three weeks and had the guns for protection, police sources said.

He was charged with three counts of second-degree gun possession and being held on $50,000 bond, court papers show. Each count carries a potential sentence of five to 15 years, to be served concurrently if a conviction results.

The arrest follows two city gun busts of US citizens who had valid gun permits in their home states.

Tennessee nurse Meredith Graves was arrested on Dec. 22 after she tried to check her .32-caliber Kel-Tec pistol at the 9/11 Memorial. Indiana jeweler Ryan Jerome, 28, was nabbed after trying to check his .45 Ruger at the Empire State Building on Sept. 27.

Vankirk had been receiving room service at about 7 a.m. Saturday when a hotel employee spotted the loaded .357 Magnum on the nightstand, police sources said.

She reported it to security, who contacted police, according to the sources.

Detectives obtained a search warrant and recovered two more guns from the room — a .357 six-shot Magnum revolver and a .45 semiautomatic — as well as at least one box of ammo, a court complaint charges.

Police learned that Vankirk had a valid Franklin County handgun permit, sources said.

Vankirk’s attorney did not return a call for comment.

The Manhattan DA’s Office declined comment.

Additional reporting by Laura Italiano