CONNECTICUT -- Westport police arrested an 86-year-old woman accused of bringing a BB gun to a town meeting. 

When detectives retrieved the gun, Estelle Margolis, 86, of Westport, Conn., told officers she brought it to make a point during a discussion about gun control to show how easy it is to purchase a gun, according to police. 

At 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, a Representative Town Meeting member approached a Westport police officer and reported that he and another RTM member believed a woman walked into the auditorium with what they believed was a weapon under a white cloth, police said.

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The Westport officer and a detective retrieved the rifle from the auditorium where the public meeting was in session and then found Margolis in the main lobby, police said.

Officers determined that the rifle was a BB gun rifle and Margolis told officers that she was planning to go up on the stage when the topic of gun control came up and make a point to the audience on how easy it was for her to purchase the gun, according to police.
In addition to the BB gun rifle, the woman had a box of 46-caliber pellets with her at the meeting, police said.

Margolis was issued a misdemeanor summons for breach of peace second and is due in court date.

“Regardless of what her reasoning was to bring the BB gun rifle to the meeting, it was a poor decision that created alarm and concern to the public. This incident could have clearly escalated into a tragedy,” police said in the news release.