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In the purse was an unloaded .44 Charter Arms revolver and eleven cartridges. The policemen found two boxes of ammunition in her car. They read the standard recitation of rights to her, then took her to the Mission police station. The gun was confiscated, and she was cited for possession of a concealed weapon—a misdemeanor under California law. A police lieutenant called the Secret Service to ask if the federal agents wanted her detained. "They said it won't be necessary, that they'd go talk to her," a senior San Francisco police officer reported. So Moore was released at 4 p.m. —about the time Ford was to speak 30 miles away. Immediately, she called O'Shea to complain: "You did that to keep me away from Stanford."
Secret Service agents called Moore that night and asked to see her. They picked her up and took her to their offices in the Federal Building. While she was there, an agent telephoned O'Shea and put Moore on the line. "I guess I'm in a fine kettle of fish," she told him. O'Shea advised her to "tell them what you told me and you'll be all right." The agent called O'Shea again and asked for more information on Moore. O'Shea repeated his earlier warning.
Then the Secret Service committed what could have turned out to be a fatal mistake. It made no effort to detain her further or to place her under surveillance while Ford was in California. Its officials have refused to explain why. A Washington spokesman would say only that the interview showed she "was not of sufficient protection interest to warrant surveillance." San Francisco police believe, however, that the federal agents were satisfied with Moore's claim that she had needed a gun for fear of reprisal from radicals for informing on their activities to the FBI. The agents were also apparently influenced by the fact that Moore had worked with the FBI and local police. Moreover, however irrational, she seemed to have no motive for wanting to hurt Ford.
On Monday morning Moore telephoned Fern wood. She told him that a woman friend of hers also wanted to buy a gun for "self-defense." Fern wood asked to meet the friend first. Moore claimed that the woman was getting ready to go on a mountain outing and did not have time to see him. But the friend knew how to handle handguns, Moore assured him.
Before driving the 28 miles to Danville to buy the second gun, Moore apparently made several attempts to hint at what she had in mind so that someone would stop her. She twice called her regular contact on the San Francisco police department. At least twice she telephoned the Secret Service. Once she phoned the FBI. But her incessant chatter muffled the danger she posed. Her calls were shrugged off by officers too busy for idle talk from a middle-aged woman who seemed to like playing conspiracy games and just wanted attention. They had more important duties that day: the President was in town.