Gun charge dropped against NYC Councilwoman…

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Gun charge dropped against NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov because

weapon was ‘inoperable’: DA

New York City Councilmember Inna Vernikov is pictured during a meeting on Sept. 6, 2023. (Photo by Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images)

By Chris Sommerfeldt | csommerfeldt@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News

PUBLISHED: November 17, 2023 at 1:08 p.m. | UPDATED: November 17, 2023 at 1:11 p.m.

Pistol-packing City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov won’t face a criminal charge for bringing a gun to a
pro-Palestine protest last month because the firearm was later determined to be “inoperable,” a
spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Friday.

Vernikov, a Republican who represents Brighton Beach and nearby neighborhoods, was spotted at the
Oct. 12 protest at Brooklyn College with a handgun clipped to her waistband . Standing in front of a
group of protesters, her weapon visible, Vernikov lamented in a video that they were chanting “free
Palestine” and said that anyone attending the demonstration is “nothing short of a terrorist without
the bombs.”

Vernikov has a gun license, but due to a state law enacted last year, it’s illegal to carry firearms,
regardless of permits, at “sensitive locations,” including protests. After video and photos swirled on
social media of Vernikov packing heat at the Brooklyn College protest, NYPD officers showed up at
her house early Oct. 13 and asked her to surrender her permit and weapon before she was charged
with illegal possession of a gun.

But Oren Yaniv, a Gonzalez spokesman, told the Daily News on Friday that the DA’s office is dropping
the charge against Vernikov because NYPD lab technicians later determined that the weapon she
surrendered “was unloaded and missing the recoil spring assembly, rendering it inoperable.”

“In order to sustain this charge, it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the weapon in
question was capable of firing bullets. Absent such proof, we have no choice but to dismiss these
charges,” Yaniv said.

Still, Yaniv chided Vernikov for showing up to the protest with a gun.

“Peaceful protest is the right of every American, but bringing a gun to a protest is illegal and creates an
unacceptable risk of harm that has no place in our city,” he said.

Barry Williams for New York Daily News

New York City Councilmember Inna Vernikov speaks at a press conference on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, in Queens. (Barry
Williams for New York Daily News)

The charge will be formally thrown out during Vernikov’s next court hearing in the case, set for Jan.
24.

Vernikov did not return phone calls after word of the expected dismissal.

Her attorney, Arthur Aidala, confirmed his client’s “gun doesn’t work,” and said “she is pleased to have
this all behind her and looks forward to continuing her fight on behalf of all New Yorkers.”

Inthe wake of Vernikov’s arrest, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams ordered the Council’s Ethics
Committee to launch a probe into her decision to carry a gun at the protest.

A Council source said it was not immediately clear how the dismissal of Vernikov’s gun charge will
impact the ethics inquiry.

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2023 November 17

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