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NYC Councilmember Vernikov's lawyer says photo doesn’t prove she had gun at pro-Palestinian rally
By
Samantha Max
and
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 2, 2023
Modified Nov 2, 2023
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Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
and
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 2, 2023
Modified Nov 2, 2023
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City Councilmember Inna Vernikov was arraigned on Thursday on one count of criminal possession of a weapon in a “sensitive location,” a low-level felony, after bringing a weapon to a protest at Brooklyn College in the week following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
While the first-term Republican lawmaker is licensed to carry a gun, she was arrested and charged last month after photos of her posted on social media showed her carrying a gun in her waistband at a pro-Palestinian protest on Oct.12, running afoul of state law that bars possession of a firearm in certain places.
Vernikov did not enter a plea during the brief court appearance. Outside the courthouse, her attorney Arthur Aidala called for more evidence to prove that the gun she was carrying was a real, operable firearm and that the photo depicting her with a gun on her hip was not computer-generated.
“A photograph taken by we don’t know who, under what circumstances, is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.
About a dozen protesters also gathered outside the court, chanting “Vernikov has got to go” and “We don’t want no Zionists here.”
Vernikov’s case is one of the first legal tests of New York’s recent sensitive location rules. If she is convicted of the crime, which is a class E felony, Vernikov would be required to resign under the state’s Public Officers law.
Vernikov, a staunch backer of Israel, shared a video of herself on social media at the Oct. 12 protest, where she had gathered with pro-Israeli demonstrators to oppose pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the school. Photos taken by others at the protest showed her carrying a gun on her hip. The NYPD contacted Vernikov after the protest and she turned herself in early the next morning.
As a sitting lawmaker, Vernikov’s violation of the state’s gun law is becoming a flashpoint, highlighting the ideological divide between anti-gun violence activists and constituents in the 48th Council District as they decide whether to re-elect her for another two years, while also showcasing the district’s ever-shifting political leanings.
Vernikov declined multiple interview requests from Gothamist ahead of her court appearance.
This month, she faces challenges to her seat from Amber Adler, a Democrat, and Igor Kazatsker, who is on the Team Trump ballot line.
Vernikov’s arraignment comes as a new law took effect last year following the Supreme Court decision to strike down portions of the state’s strict gun laws. The new law prohibits firearms in areas designated as “sensitive locations,” such as protests and schools, with a few exceptions for law enforcement and members of the military.
Constituents in Vernikov’s district — which sweeps along the Brooklyn shoreline from Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach and nearby Trump Village apartments and stretches north to Midwood as far as Avenue N — expressed mixed feelings about her arrest, signaling broader trends among New Yorkers about the state’s gun laws in an increasingly conservative district, as more communities in a state once considered a Democratic stronghold turn from blue to red.
Even though just under half of the district's voters are registered Democrats, Republicans have been picking up support, with strong showings from Lee Zeldin in last year's governor’s race and from mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa in 2021, according to an analysis of voter turnout by John Mollenkopf, director of the CUNY Graduate Center's Center for Urban Research.
The district is also home to a significant Russian and Jewish population; more than 20% of registered voters there have Russian surnames, according to Mollenkopf, while 15.5% have Jewish surnames.
Immediately after Vernikov’s arrest, Adler, her Democratic challenger, issued a scathing statement condemning Vernikov’s actions, calling the move “unhinged” and warning that the councilmember was endangering other Jewish New Yorkers.
Adler, who is an Orthodox Jew and a single mother of two, has already faced backlash among more conservative members of her community as a woman running for office.
During an interview at her campaign office on Kings Highway the week after Vernikov’s arrest, Adler did not back down from her comments.
“In Judaism, there's something where you make what's called a ‘chillul hashem.’ You make an entire community look bad because not everyone knows people from this community,” Adler told Gothamist. “And if you are representing yourself, you're never [just] representing yourself. Like, you are an entire community whether you want to be or not.”
Adler accused Vernikov of engaging in culture wars that can lead to increased antisemitism and violence against Jews.
“My kids and me, we are all identifiable Jews,” Adler explained. “Maybe she blends in so much better, but we don’t. I know what it is to have people follow you down the street and tell you that they’re going to kill you because you’re Jewish.”
“If she was a different background, if she was not an elected official, or if she was an elected official of a different background, she would have walked out in handcuffs," Adler added. "That is what people are saying to me.”
Vernikov declined multiple interview attempts and her attorney declined to comment on her political beliefs about the state’s gun laws after her arraignment on Thursday.
Oren Yaniv, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, declined to comment on the pending case.
It is difficult to compare Vernikov’s treatment to other defendants because just two other people across New York state — and no others in New York City — have faced a top charge of criminal possession of a weapon in a sensitive location under the new state law, according to Janine Kava, a spokesperson for the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services.
In the weeks following her arrest, Vernikov has remained active on social media defending Israel’s war against Hamas. At a press conference, she called for the president of Cooper Union to be fired the day after Jewish students there tweeted that they were “barricaded” in the library during a pro-Palestinian protest. The NYPD later released a statement that said the students there faced no serious danger during the protest, though Vernikov said some students told her they felt “shaken and terrified.”
While Vernikov has not shied away from controversy, she’s received gestures of support from a range of city officials. In the days following Vernikov's arrest, Ingrid Lewis Martin, chief adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, posed with Vernikov for a selfie that was shared on social media.
Michael Nelson, a Democratic former city councilmember who used to represent Vernikov’s district, offered a sympathetic view of her decision to carry a gun, pointing to anxieties over crime.
“She probably should have thought twice about that, but in the zeitgeist we’re living in right now, it seems to be only the criminals who have guns, knives, pipes and other weapons. So it’s hard to blame some, even a law-abiding citizen,” said Nelson.
Todres Yampel, 77, a voter in the district who was waiting for a bus on Kings Highway, echoed that sentiment last month.
“She has a license to carry,” Yampel said, arguing that the city would be safer if more people carried guns.
But others called Vernikov’s action dangerous, especially because she is a lawmaker who is supposed to know and understand the law.
Bernard Zysberg, 73, who was walking out of a Chase Bank on Kings Highway on a recent Thursday, said he was very concerned about Vernikov’s decision to carry a weapon.
“I am against any form of violence, a show of violence, which means carrying a gun … it sends the wrong message,” he said.
But Zysberg also acknowledged that Vernikov’s actions likely appeal to a certain segment of voters in the district.
“Many of the people here believe that force is power,” he added.
“The reality is ignorance of the law is no excuse,” said Rebecca Fischer, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. “I think that most New Yorkers would say that a lawmaker, a city councilmember, someone who has been voted in to create laws and ensure that they're enforced, should be in command of the law.”
Fischer added: “The law is actually quite explicit. There's not a lot to analyze here as to whether or not she was caring, concealed in a sensitive location.”
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of New York’s strict gun laws, arguing they violated people’s Second Amendment rights by allowing licensing officers to subjectively decide who should be granted a concealed carry permit.
In response, state lawmakers passed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which added more requirements for permits and also barred even most permit holders from carrying guns in so-called “sensitive locations,” such as public transportation, homeless shelters and protests. Vernikov was charged with violating that law.
The Concealed Carry Improvement Act has prompted lawsuits from gun owners and Second Amendment advocates who say the new rules are overly restrictive. Some have specifically challenged the prohibitions on certain sensitive locations, such as places of worship and public parks.
Several of those lawsuits are still winding their way through the courts, with some judges striking down aspects of the law. Last week, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that a new requirement for permit applicants to prove they have “good moral character” is unconstitutional. But most of the court blocks have not taken effect while the state awaits a decision from a higher court, according to the attorney general’s office, which is defending the law.
Experts expect at least one of the cases to eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could once again upend the state’s gun laws. In the meantime, many New Yorkers who want to carry guns feel confused and frustrated, according to conversations with gun owners since the passage of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act.
This story was updated to include additional information about the upcoming election in the 48th district, background about New York's gun laws and additional comments from voters in the area .
Tagged
Politics
criminal justice
gun laws
new york city
public safety
brooklyn
City Council
elections
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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