{"id":436740,"date":"2025-12-10T01:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/436740\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T01:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:21:16","slug":"nyc-council-committee-criticizes-inna-vernikov-for-bringing-gun-to-protest-but-doesnt-censure-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/436740\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Council committee criticizes Inna Vernikov for bringing gun to protest, but doesn\u2019t censure her"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York City Council\u2019s Ethics Committee<\/a> on Tuesday blasted Councilwoman Inna Vernikov<\/a> for bringing a gun to a peaceful protest in 2023 \u2014 but voted not to formally take the matter further.<\/p>\n

Committee Chairwoman Sandra Ung<\/a> slammed Vernikov in a statement read into the record, saying the Republican Council member displayed a \u201cbrazen disregard\u201d for her fellow New Yorkers and public safety by bringing her firearm<\/a> to the pro-Palestinian protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incumbent upon me to speak on behalf and express the majority\u2019s deep disappointment with Council member Vernikov\u2019s conduct,\u201d Ung said, also criticizing Vernikov for not offering a public apology.<\/p>\n

Last week, sources with direct knowledge of the matter indicated to the Daily News that the committee was looking to advance a formal censure motion of Vernikov to the full Council, which would then have voted on it in a more severe form of rebuke. However, the Ethics Committee shut down that possibility with Tuesday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

Vernikov, who represents several southern Brooklyn neighborhoods<\/a>, was arrested and criminally charged hours after bringing her firearm to the 2023 Brooklyn College rally \u2014 five days after Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on Israel \u2014 which she was counterprotesting. However, the charges against her were later dropped after police found the weapon was missing a piece, making it inoperable.<\/p>\n

Diana Ayala, the City Council\u2019s deputy speaker, told the Daily News after Tuesday\u2019s hearing that the committee ultimately opted for this move in order to avoid the matter potentially dragging into next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the most insulting part of all of this is the resistance to issue a simple apology and say, \u2018I should not have walked into that space with a gun\u2019 \u2026 I find it appalling,\u201d Ayala said during the meeting.<\/p>\n

Vernikov, for her part, was unapologetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarrying a weapon into public assembly, especially an assembly which consists of masked supporters of \u2018Globalize the Intifada,\u2019 is not only appropriate, but is necessary,\u201d Vernikov said in response to the committee\u2019s condemnation, adding that she encourages more New Yorkers to use their Second Amendment rights when Zohran Mamdani is mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Speaker [Adrienne] Adams previously stated, it is unacceptable for a civilian to ever bring a firearm to a rally or protest, and it is important for elected officials to model the behavior we expect of New Yorkers,\u201d Council spokeswoman Julia Agos said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Staten Island Councilman David Carr, the ethics panel\u2019s only Republican, came to Vernikov\u2019s defense, saying there was \u201cno evidence\u201d to suggest she meant to threaten or cause concern by intentionally toting the gun.<\/p>\n

He also slammed the 2022 state law designating many public places, such as protest areas and school grounds, as \u201csensitive locations\u201d where wielding firearms is illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe restrictions like this that we have here in New York may not endure judicial scrutiny,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York City Council\u2019s Ethics Committee on Tuesday blasted Councilwoman Inna Vernikov for bringing a gun to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":436741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8988,1370,405,403,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-436740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-election","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115692652770469708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}