New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov

Southern Brooklyn Councilmember Inna Vernikov is going to be cleared of an illegal gun charge, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office told THE CITY on Friday — despite social media photos from last month that appeared to show the Republican with a gun on her waist at a counter-protest against pro-Palestinian college students.

A New York law, passed last year, prohibits the possession of firearms at “sensitive locations” including protests — even for licensed gun holders like Vernikov. But state case law holds that for prosecutors to prove a possession charge, the firearm must be operable.

NYPD officers monitoring the rally did not arrest Vernikov or seize the weapon at the time. Instead, police took possession of the gun when she voluntarily turned herself in and handed over the weapon the following morning. When the NYPD inspected the firearm a few weeks later, they found it was missing a key part — the recoil spring assembly — making the gun inoperable, according to a law enforcement source.

As a result, the prosecutors had to drop the charge, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said. It was the first time the charge had ever been brought forth under the new state law in Kings County.

— George Joseph in Brooklyn DA Drops Gun Charge Against City Council Member, Citing ‘Inoperable’ Weapon

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84 COMMENTS

  1. Sounds like someone was testing the system to see what would happen and get a bit of press out of it knowing the charges wouldn’t stick. The logic follow-up to this stunt would be to start advocating reform/elimination of the illegal gun laws that prohibit citizens from defending themselves. We’ll see what Vernikov will do next…

    • No, the logical outcome is to duplicate the defiance of the law. We carry replica handguns openly. The police will have to decide how much of their energy they are going to put into harassing us. And losing.

      It’s a matter of resources. The resources they use to prosecute us and the reputational risk of seeming impotent in the face of this resistance. Against the resources we use to defend our cases in the prosecutions on the grounds that the “guns” are not operable.

      Individually, that’s expensive. If Tom, Dick and Mary all individually defy, get prosecuted and defend, they are each out a lot of money. Few will volunteer.

      However, if collectively we each chip in $1 to a fund to hire a NYC located attorney to defend these cases then when the fund is large enough Tom and Mary will step up to the plate knowing that – with the attorney’s guidance – how to execute the defiance.

      The public knows that it is forbidden to carry a gun in NYC. So, they will soon catch on that Tom and Mary are not really carrying guns. So, not much to get into a tizzy about. It’s not like open-carrying in an open-carry state. This isn’t flaunting a NYC social norm. It’s no different than actors filming a scene on the street.

      The public will eventually catch on that the police are arresting Tom and Mary for a “crime” they can’t prosecute. The cops are wasting energy “policing” the crime of publicly defying the law forbidding open carry. The public will wonder about the law. Maybe it needs to be amended to forbid openly carrying a faux gun. Yes, another law on cosmetics, not substance.

      There are several states that are resisting Bruen and resisting open-carry. They may forbid the cosmetic of carrying a faux gun. But these too can be challenged. On what Constitutional pretext can the government ban carrying a facsimile of something forbidden. That’s a defiance of the freedom of speech.

      Start with 18th century pirate single-shot flint-lock pistol facsimiles. Yes, it’s a “gun” but it’s obviously a facsimile of an obsolete gun. They can’t prosecute these cases.

      Move on with slightly more realistic facsimiles, e.g., something that looks like a fake 19th Century pair of coyboy pistols. Hard to make that stick too. Where to draw the line between a great AirSoft gun and something that really looks like a prop? We get constitutionally vague. How can the citizen know whether the particular prop he has chosen for his political protest is “too realistic” and treads on wearing a dangerous and unusual weapon to the terror of His Magisties gutless subjects?

      • “We carry replica handguns openly. The police will have to decide how much of their energy they are going to put into harassing us.”

        Go ahead- you’ll be just as dead after you get shot by a nervous cop. I doubt he/she/it will be charged. In the very least you’ll get tossed face down into the dirt and jailed.

        Screw all that- we need to elect people to office who are not trying to enslave us.

        • Craig – do you supposed Joni Ernst carries in DC (her 1st campaign she made much noise about CCW)? Stipulate that Joni is mostly BS.

  3. so remember that.. if the cops are on the way and you haven’t fired…out of sight of anyone else take the recoil spring out and put it in your pocket. then let them prove the gun was ‘operable’ when they arrived.

    • “and you haven’t fired”

      should have been …

      and you haven’t drawn the gun from holster or fired

    • I can remove the firing pin/spring/sleeve assembly from the HK P7-M13 EDC in under a second.
      Just a slight press and 1/4 clockwise turn of the sleeve while partially squeezing the cocking lever does the trick. Can even be done one handed while in the shoulder holster and under a cover garment.
      One of the benefits of the “obsolete” design.

      • If so, this is a vehicle to defy the NYC ban on carrying.

        I can go armed in NYC with this make and model. If stopped by the cops, or I think I may be stopped by the cops, I strip the parts and cast them away. The cops may see me do so, but they have to find each of these small parts in the street to make the case that they really all were in the gun and they saw me throw them all away. Can’t find the firing pin, can’t make the case that the gun was operable.

        • Don’t get me wrong, I 100% disagree with the ban on firearms. That said, would you also argue that an unloaded gun is inoperable? doesn’t work without bullets.

          Better bet is just don’t get caught. LOL.

        • They’ll just confiscate the firearm, replace the missing parts and say you had a fully working firearm.

          The “con” can work in the reverse.

  4. Something stinks here. By searching multiple articles about her and her gun, it appears to be a S&W Shield. Since I don’t own a S&W Shield, I just looked up a video on field stripping and re-assembly. Much like the Glock, with which I am VERY familiar, I don’t see how the gun could have been assembled without the recoil spring assembly (RSA) to hold the barrel in place within the slide, allowing re-assembly of the slide to the frame.

    And according to the reports, the police did NOT seize the firearm at the time of the initial encounter. She LATER reported to the police station to turn in the gun. So, it’s entirely possible she went home… removed the RSA (knowing of the “operable” caveat in the law) and then brought the rest of the gun to the police station.

    I’m calling BS on the story. The charges were dropped because she’s a council member, not because the gun was missing the RSA.

    • “I’m calling BS on the story. The charges were dropped because she’s a council member, not because the gun was missing the RSA.”

      Their excuse is bullshit, full stop. If it was true, all a mugger would have to do is remove a key component and they would skate on that charge.

      I find more likely that they were scared shitless she would use ‘Bruin’ to get open carry declared legal by the courts, so just sweep it quietly under the rug and ignore it ever happened in the first place… 🙁

      • How clueless do you need to be to actually BELIEVE that a Republican would get special (positive) treatment by the liberal DA’s in NYC?

        You are so full of S minor that it just comes oozing out of every pore when you attempt to -communicate- (propagandize) through your blow hole.

        • “How clueless do you need to be to actually BELIEVE that a Republican would get special (positive) treatment by the liberal DA’s in NYC?”

          You have the evidence in the article right before your eyes yet you still continue to deny that the Republican politician received “special (positive) treatment by the liberal DA’s in NYC“.

          How unfortunate that reality does not conform to your narrative.

          Must be a Trump voter.

        • MINOR49er, Oh PULLEEAASSEE! Give it a rest. You are certainly a Biden Voter. No brain in your head or a hair on your ass.
          You honestly “think” (term used advisedly) that being a Republican in NYC give you special priviledges? If you do, you have to be as stupid as Biden.

      • MINOR49er, I have a RED HOT NEWS FLASH for you. It seems that NYC is dominated by DEMONcRATS. But you already know that.

    • The charges were dropped because NYC was afraid of the court case. The powers that be hate her. She is a elected Republican in Brooklyn. Also they were trying to get her to resign after the incident. They are afraid of where her case could go down the line, so they swept it under the rug.

        • The most evil-good thing about that is, it showed their hand.

          They’re scared shitless at the prospect of having to publicly litigate it.

          I hope she takes the opportunity to push a little harder at the next ‘mostly-peaceful protest’, with cameras present… 😉

    • “Much like the Glock, with which I am VERY familiar, I don’t see how the gun could have been assembled without the recoil spring assembly (RSA) to hold the barrel in place within the slide, allowing re-assembly of the slide to the frame.”

      huh?

      you can do it on a Glock, barrel and slide remain in place after reassembly. you just manually keep the barrel in place in the slide as you put the slide back on. of course it doesn’t dissamble the normal way after that, but that’s an easy thing to do too to overcome to disassemble again to put the recoil spring back in.

      • and once you do it without the recoil spring, ya can’t get the slide back off the normal way…but i’m not sure why this is a mystery to you as its a fairly common thing for new gun owners with their first Glock doing it the first time to put it back together without the recoil spring/rod assembly in place. But in case you try it, here is how you get the slide back off without damaging the gun…

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W10dVM6Fz_E

      • Yes, yes… I know. It’s more common for a newbie to throw the slide on without the barrel AND the spring.

        And yes… it CAN be assembled with the barrel and no spring, but it’s a bit trickier. You have to hold the barrel in the slide with some pressure on the barrel hood in the ejection port. Or, you could assemble it with the slide upside down using gravity to keep the barrel in place.

        But neither of those scenarios (slide + barrel without spring) are likely with a newbie.

        But let’s assume it did happen. I’ve done it on purpose to see what happens. The slide and barrel flop around, and it’s rather obvious that something is wrong. You certainly can’t load it normally. Even a noob will know that something ain’t right. I doubt one who intends to carry it for self-defense would then put an empty floppy gun in a holster to go out into that cruel world.

        So, either she is more gun savvy than most noobs and did it on purpose to troll the tyrants… or she was coached before turning in the gun.

  5. 3D chess.

    Hot Jewish woman is also pretty bright it seems.

    Even smarter would be to just move to Florida and leave the S hole of NYC behind. Florida always needs more smart hot Jewish women.

  6. how can you get a semiautomatic pistol to remain assembled with the slide attached to the frame without a recoil springs assembly to hold it in place?

    other than that point, my only comment is to quote Gene Wilder from Young Doctor Frankenstein, “NICE KNOCKERS!”

    • Could it be that the part described in the press report was NOT the part removed? The police official that told the press this story could have gotten the part names confused. What to police know about guns?

      Is there some other essential part that could have been removed and the gun reassembled? Let’s suppose that that part were named the “sear”. So, can the cops tell a reporter that it was the sear that was removed? The public wouldn’t have understood that. So, they used the term “recoil spring” which the public would understand.

      E.g., they will report that the suspect had a Glock with a full “clip”. They expect the public to understand “clip” but not “magazine” so they choose the wrong term to convey the right idea.

      • I think you’re being overly generous (and quite the spin).

        The reality is most likely, she was COACHED before bringing the gun BACK to the police station, after they let her go home with it (to “disable” it).

        • “she was COACHED before bringing the gun BACK to the police station, after they let her go home with it (to “disable” it)“

          Correct, they intentionally let this Republican politician off the hook for her gun violation.

          And you can speculate that the powers that be had some fear of litigation, but I would point out that she was given a break by the cops at the scene who did not seize the weapon, much less incarcerate her.
          I don’t think they were thinking about the legal ramifications.

          Her second political break came when the DA’s office did not charge her for the obvious firearms violation.

          I can guarantee you, Bruen or not, if you had been in the same situation you’d still be lodged in the Central Booking Unit in Kew Gardens.

        • “…but I would point out that she was given a break by the cops at the scene who did not seize the weapon,…”

          Beat cops are like the enlisted in the US military, most of them lean conservative, politically. The decision to not prosecute was made at the leadership level, and they are mostly Left-leaning critters.

          “I can guarantee you, Bruen or not, if you had been in the same situation you’d still be lodged in the Central Booking Unit in Kew Gardens.”

          *Zero* doubt that’s 100 percent correct.

          What this did do, however, is prove that public carry is a hot potato they really don’t want to have blow up in their faces, if they can help it. The NYPD brass doesn’t want the blame for being the ones who get open carry declared legal on the streets of Manhattan…

        • MINOR49er. Other than your big mouthand your Leftist control freak ideology, can you prove any of your concocted nonsense?

      • A far more SALIENT point to me is that she has OUTSTANDING ATTRIBUTES and a WELL ROUNDED PERSONALITY.

    • How do you keep it assembled and not falling apart?

      -Stick it into the holster. Done. It might jiggle around but it’s all going to stay one piece along with the holster as long as it has any retention at all. Anyone who carries every day and keeps the rig together every time they strap up should instinctively know this.

    • I love these new, young, hip democrats.
      -9/11 was a good thing
      -Bin Laden is a good man
      -we must exterminate the jews or at the very least wipe Israel off the map
      -tearing down the Berlin Wall is racist and homophobic

      All piled up on nonsense like clownqueen storytimes and meth addict dustin is amazing.

      • I’d really hate to be Jewish in NYC these days, their ‘big tent’ Democrat party *openly* wanting them dead.

        And the sick part is, they will dutifully pull the lever in the voting booth for those that want them dead.

        Imagine what will happen on election day, will enough of them simply not bother to vote at all?

      • “I love these new, young, hip democrats.
        -9/11 was a good thing
        -Bin Laden is a good man“

        Interesting, could you please give specific examples where a significant number of young, hip Democrats have advocated for these positions?

        • “Interesting, could you please give specific examples where a significant number of young, hip Democrats have advocated for these positions?”

          AOC, for starters. pro-hamas protestors for another is full of them, and of course you.

  8. “NYPD officers monitoring the rally did not arrest Vernikov or seize the weapon at the time.”

    What, no arrest, they didn’t even seize the firearm? In NYC?

    “appeared to show the Republican with a gun on her waist at a counter-protest against pro-Palestinian”

    Oh, that makes perfect sense, of course a pro-Israeli Republican politician won’t suffer any consequences for illegally carrying a firearm in NYC.

    It was nice of them to not seize the firearm so she would have an opportunity to render it inoperable to avoid prosecution.

    • Oy vey good for her! Pretty sure Republicans get no special treatment in NY. SEE: Trump troll🙄

    • It was nice of them to not seize the twenty some gluks with giggle switches from the known gangbangers so they could avoid prosecution, right Miner? Oh wait, they may have suspected that she may have been one of them.
      A regular laugh a minute.

      • .40 cal
        This guy had poor initial situational awareness, but made up for it with his immediate response and use of ‘materials at hand.’

        One of the first things I noticed in watching the video of the encounter several times over the last few days, it became obvious that he took whatever drink it was in his hand and chucked it right into the face of his attacker.

        It’s not mentioned here in the Laura video, but in another interview I watched, he mentioned having a cup of tea ‘so hot that he could hardly hold it, and was looking forward to getting it in the house to add some honey so he could drink it.’

        That EXCELLENT response temporarily incapacitated the first attacker and bought him the initial time to pull his weapon.

        Further, the first attacker stumbling around was basically a shield between him and the second attacker, and again, introduced another action that both added to the time he needed to un-holster his weapon, and somewhat prevented the second attacker from initially cranking off a round or two since he might have hit his ‘buddy.’

        Too bad he didn’t connect with a few rounds, (at least as far as we know,) but all in all, I’d say a pretty good response to a VERY stressful situation.

  10. Don’t know NY/NYC laws but Maryland law states for wear & carry is keep 1000ft from any world war Z event that demoncrats are staging. I need a GPS/Radar that will detect these phenomenon.

    • “…is keep 1000ft from any world war Z event that demoncrats are staging. I need a GPS/Radar that will detect these phenomenon.”

      I bet someone has created a GPS-driven ‘carry app’ that audibly alerts you if stray near a ‘prohibited area’…

  11. Yeah something’s wrong here, doubt some random would be allowed to walk because the gun was non functioning due to an easily removable/replaceable part was missing after the fact.

  14. Turned the gunm in the next morning and it didnt work.
    I’d have never guessed.
    You Go Girl👍

  17. As was mentioned above the theory that NYC is afraid of a court case and losing on appeal all the way to SCOTUS in a post-Bruen world has some merit.

  18. If you believe the gun was inoperative than you believe in the tooth fairy. It was an excuse to get her off the hook because after all she is a council woman and therefore above the law. Don’t you just love Capitalvania’s corrupt government because if you have power (both Democrat and Republican) you are above the law.

    • “It was an excuse to get her off the hook because after all she is a council woman and therefore above the law.”

      Wrong, she’s conservative, that makes her political enemy number one. If they could burn her with limited political blow-back, they damn sure would have.

      It exposed just how badly they wanted the whole thing ‘swept under the rug’, never to be seen again.

      Now that we know how they’ll react, we can exploit it politically, just as they so love to do to the Right… 😉

    • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD, Other than your vaulted Leftist control freak opinion, do you have any proof?

      Still haven’t figured out what the firing sequence of a cartridge is?

  19. This reminds me of the scum sucking whore of an attorney who argued in court motions that his marijuana bootlegging client isn’t a threat to my family because he only loads his 12 gauge, Remington 870, Tactical Express shotgun with buckshot when he shoots at us. This situation is entirely a consequence of my son’s decision to call 911 rather than call me so that I could simply shoot, shovel and shut up.

    Incidentally, the attorney in question is a Great Grandson of Jacob Silverman who took James Walker and Edith MacClain for a ride in his 1930 Studabaker limousine up Dutch Canyon road out of Scappoose to visit the rock bunker on Otto Miller road. Both victims were found dead with gun shot wounds from Shy Frank’s .38 caliber revolver. The punch line is that this sleazy attorney is married to a Columbia County Deputy District Attorney.

  20. “NYPD officers monitoring the rally did not arrest Vernikov or seize the weapon at the time. Instead, police took possession of the gun when she voluntarily turned herself in and handed over the weapon the following morning. When the NYPD inspected the firearm a few weeks later, they found it was missing a key part — the recoil spring assembly — making the gun inoperable, according to a law enforcement source. ”

    This tells us one of two things happened…

    A: Council woman Vernikov removed the RSA herself, before turning herself in the following morning.
    B: During the “few weeks” NYPD had possession of the weapon, someone within NYPD removed the RSA.

    Does it really prove that the weapon was inoperable at the time she was seen with it at the terrorist support rally…not so much

    But I can absolutely live with the fact she is not being charged.

  21. from the picture it seems that her breasts are humongous. I’m not sure that factors into the dismissal of the charges but their size may have influenced the decisio.

  23. Shouldn’t a pistol without a recoil spring still be a single shot?

    There was a study done by an evidence room manager some years ago. He found that the MAJORITY of criminal guns, even when they were actual guns (not toys painted black etc.), weren’t operable for some reason, be it improper loading, loaded with wrong ammo, or mechanical issues. I’d say I doubt the majority of NY’s criminals would get the same standard applied, but given the catch and release of everyone but self defenders in NY, maybe they do.

  25. Who remembers the defense in Shooter(the movie)? He removed the firing pin and that proved his innocence. It’s really easy to out smart the sheeple!

  26. NY Lawyer here: The law requires someone to fear like they’re going to be harmed – operational status of the firearm is irrelevant to the subjective opinion of someone.

    So something else is going on here.

    Prosecutors probably figured she would win in Court and get their shitty laws overturned.

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