Police in New York City charged a member of the city council Friday with carrying a gun during a Palestinian rally on a college campus.
Police said they told Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish and a Republican who represents southern Brooklyn, to turn herself in on gun charges after bringing the firearm to the Thursday event at Brooklyn College.
Ms. Vernikov, 39, was booked early the next day and released with a desk appearance ticket, police said.
“If you’re standing [with] the protestors, yelling ‘Globalize the intifada’ & ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ while innocent women and babies are being raped, massacred and beheaded, you’re a Hamas supporter & apologist who would like to bring the terror here to rid the world of the Jewish people,” Ms. Vernikov posted on X while at the Brooklyn College protest.
The council member has a concealed carry permit. She surrendered her registered firearm and license upon being charged.
Ali Najmi, a criminal defense attorney based in New York City, said on X that protests are considered a “sensitive location” that don’t allow for concealed carry.
