NEW YORK - A South Korean immigrant who arrived at federal court on Wednesday to become a US citizen took her right to bear arms a little too seriously, authorities said.

Pistol. [file]

Mal Soon Jin, 49, was arrested after an X-ray machine at the entrance of the Brooklyn courthouse revealed she was carrying an unloaded .22-caliber pistol in her handbag, authorities said.

The arrest forced her to miss a swearing-in ceremony in favor of an arraignment in the same court on a charge of knowingly possessing a firearm in a federal facility. She was released on $100,000 bond.

Her brother-in-law Francis Jin said the family was mystified by the incident.

The defendant, who has been in the country 20 years and ran a fruit stand with her husband, "doesn't even know how to shoot a gun," he said. "She's scared about those things."

She could face up to 16 months in prison if convicted.