In February, New York police seized a gun owned by writer E. Jean Carroll after she testified in a defamation case against former President Donald Trump, revealing that she had an unregistered firearm at her home.
NBC News reported “the chief of police in Warwick, New York, visited Carroll at her home on Feb. 15 ‘to discuss some open issues,’ the [police] report states, including Carroll’s disclosure of the handgun while she was on the witness stand Jan. 17.”
During Trump’s trial, Carroll testified that she kept a “high standard revolver, nine chambers” at home with ammunition. “By my bed,” she said.
“I still do not have a license,” Carroll added.
John Rader, the law enforcement officer who documented the incident, mentioned in his report that he “proposed to store the weapon at the police station’s premises for safekeeping.” Carroll and one of her security team members turned over the firearm the following day after Rader’s visit. The report stated that the gun would be retained until Carroll acquired a New York handgun license, as reported by NBC.
The outlet noted further:
“Under New York state law, a person can be found guilty of criminal possession if they possess a firearm, such as a pistol, that has not been registered. The felony carries a maximum sentence of four years. It was unclear why police waited almost a month to inquire in person about the unregistered gun Carroll said she had at her house or whether police are still in possession of it.”
Carroll’s possession of the firearm was a subject of dispute during the cross-examination in the January hearing, as Trump attorney Alina Habba inquired about Carroll’s gun ownership and her knowledge of the licensing requirement. However, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the line of questioning, as reported by NBC.
“Don’t even start,” he warned Habba over the line of questioning.
