City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov was arrested Friday after attending a pro-Palestinian rally on Thursday while carrying a firearm on her person.
Vernikov, who represents Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay in southern Brooklyn, attended the rally, which was held at Brooklyn College, as a counterprotester. Pictures and videos of the councilwoman quickly circulated on social media that appeared to show Vernikov observing the rally with the butt of a handgun visible from her waistband.
According to the NYPD, the department notified Vernikov that she was in violation of the law after she left the rally, and she later turned herself in to the 70th Precinct at 2:50 a.m. accompanied by her lawyer. The councilwoman was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm, and she had to turn over her legally licensed firearm as well as her permit.
The councilwoman, who is Jewish and had criticized several pro-Palestinian rallies in the wake of the war in Israel, had announced her plans to attend the event ahead of time with two of her City Council colleagues, Farah Louis and Kalman Yeger. (The student-organized rally was initially slated to be held on the Brooklyn College campus, but was moved to a public sidewalk on Bedford Avenue.) Vernikov shared video of herself at the rally, denouncing attendees as “pro-Hamas.”
“If you are here today standing with these people, you’re nothing short of a terrorist without the bombs,” she said in the minute-long clip posted to her official Twitter account.
Vernikov had been recently featured in a New York Post article that profiled new gun owners in the city, telling the paper that she obtained her concealed-carry permit in September after filing an application in July. “I want it for protection,” she told the Post, citing an uptick in crime as well as antisemitism. In a social-media post from last month, Vernikov shared a photo of herself holding her new license with the caption, “Officially a licensed gun owner!”
Though Vernikov did have a permit, legislation passed last year forbids an individual from carrying a firearm under certain circumstances, including at “any gathering of individuals to collectively express their constitutional rights to protest or assemble.”
Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the City Council, issued a statement saying that the Council is investigating the incident and that she’s referring the matter to the Standards and Ethics Committee.
“It is unacceptable and unlawful for a civilian to ever bring a firearm to a rally or protest, and especially important for elected officials to model a respect for the law that is expected of all New Yorkers. It is the responsibility of the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney to enforce the law in what is a criminal matter, and the Council will respect that process,” she said.
