NYC Councilwoman Carries a Gun for the Same Reasons Every Other Armed American Does

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A New York City councilmember said that she carries a pistol around with her for protection because she is worried about crime in the city, including attacks based on prejudice.

“With anti-semitism, it doesn’t feel safe in the city anymore. You’re always on edge and watching your back,” Brooklyn councilwoman Inna Vernikov told The New York Post.

Vernikov asked her synagogue to allow her to become a volunteer safety guard, explaining that only certain people, such as congregation leaders or an official safety guard, can carry guns in temples.

“We are short on cops and recruitments are way down … As much as we need the police, we can’t just rely on the police. Something life-altering can happen in the time it takes for cops to arrive,” she said.

“It’s peace of mind and I can now protect myself and someone else, but of course, the goal is to never have to use it,” she said of her gun. “The best thing you can do is defend yourself.”

— Fatma Khaled in NYC Lawmaker Reveals Why She Now Carries a Pistol With Her to Temple: ‘Doesn’t Feel Safe in the City Anymore’

65 COMMENTS

  1. Just more of the “guns for me, but not for thee” attitude of the leftists we always see in the blue cities within the blue States. We, the unwashed are unworthy and need to be controlled by our betters.

      • I guess it is simply hard to believe anyone but a lefty-marxist can get elected anywhere in NYC these days.

        • She likely lives in a Jewish-centrist neighborhood, so it’s no surprise.

          Also, that big carry permit payoff scandal that charged something like $18,000 for a NYC permit was run by a Jewish guy…

        • Good bet she has not figured out what segment/s of the prog left foments “antisemitism.”

          and Palo Twito isn’t smart enough to be a moron.

      • The carry-killer laws that NYS passed have hurt those connected & privileged few people who already had CCWs before Bruen more than anyone else. Previously those exceedingly few who had licenses before (I’ve seen figures like 1000 or so licenses total) could pretty much carry anywhere they wanted throughout the city. Now they are lumped in with the new license laws that make it almost impossible to carry practically anywhere in the city. There aren’t two-tiers now either.

        • Amy Comedy Barrett has been pretty weak-tea in her recent interactions with 2A cases. Kavanaugh torpedoed Bruen with his “concurrence” which salvaged unconstitutional carry licensing and perpetuating that single-handedly when we could have instead gotten nationwide Constitutional Carry.

        • “Amy Comedy Barrett has been pretty weak-tea in her recent interactions with 2A cases.”

          Are you seriously suggesting Hillary’s SCotUS picks would be 2A friendly?

          Had Hillary won, the court balance would be in their favor, and ‘Heller’ itself would have been declared not an individual right… 🙁

        • Nobody but an idiot would say that Hillary’s picks would be better. We almost had Merrick Garland fer chrissakes no thanks to Barry Soweto. But someone else could have done so so so much better than Bumpstock Don who wants to take away the guns first and worry about the due process later. A broken clock could have made better picks than Obama, Hillary, or FJB. That doesn’t mean they are anything close to ideal on the 2A on the Superior Court Bench. I’m not at all impressed by Kavanaugh or weak-tea ACB when it comes to our RKBA. Like my dad used to say when I brought home a B- on my report card, “well if that is the best you can do..” -that isn’t high praise.

  2. So, she got her permit to be a safety guard in her synagogue and she gets to carry it around town? I guess that’s progress. Or she knows someone in the mayors office, or governors office.Hey Upstate what say you?

    • SO WRONG, Hortense. She got the permit FIRST and then asked the Synagogue if she could be part of the security team so she could carry in the Synagogue. Unfortunately, the State of NY has outlawed carrying a firearm in church unless you are a member of the security in the religious place.
      She also happens to be a REPUBLICAN!

      • Why so offended Walter? There was nothing offensive in my comment. And as far as her party affiliation see the comment below. Republican in all caps? Whatever your problems at home don’t bring them here.

        • Hortense, Offended? Whenever someone makes a rash off the wall comment everyone is offended. The problem here seems to be your WAG (wild ass guess) comment. Now why don’t you go back to the drawing board and try all over again.

        • You could have actually looked up this info or posed a question. Instead you ASSuMEd a bunch of stuff and now you’re trying to play the victim for being called out on it?

      • “Unfortunately, the State of NY has outlawed carrying a firearm in church unless you are a member of the security in the religious place.”

        Until not that long ago, Florida was worse, no church carry period.

        In my church’s parish, we ignored the law with the blessing of our priest… 🙂

        • Florida still has a lot.of BS gun laws today. It’s not really the “gunshine state.”

          Once we get a better governor with the balls to stand up to the RINOs in the legislature maybe some of the serious deficiencies will be finally fixed.

        • South Carolina also bans church carry “unless express permission is given by the appropriate church official or governing body.”

    • First off she is NYC so not my circus not my monkeys re the rules regs and various drama involved in the NYC vs rest of the state permits. With that said some streets and wherever the business/property owner allows carry is the current law pending 2nd circuit decision (hearing back in April I think) so for better or worse that is about the official legal state of affairs. With that bitching out of the way while Upstate/everything not NYC has gotten substantially harder (looking at you long island) NYC has had a vast improvement in cost time and availability of licensing so it is a start.

      • I don’t go to any church so a carry ban there isn’t my circus either. I’ll be declining invitations to weddings or ignoring unconstitutional laws at funerals in those cases if they intersect those particular institutions. But I still intend to stick up for the rights of others even if they aren’t rights I need to exercise myself.

        • NYC /= NY in terms of statute law hence not my monkeys they are in effect a city state that loosely follows some NY state law when not superseded by city law. I support the efforts of the people living there fighting many of the laws as they are easily intertwined with many of the lawsuits we have at the state level but on the political end they are on their own as they have enough population to override anything the state at large has to say. Ultimately our primary focus has to be on fixing up our home regions and then looking larger.

  3. As a pro-selfdefense New Yorker, one would expect that she would come under attack from “all sides”.

    My uncle left the place in 1934, for that very reason.

    • Wasn’t that around the time many suits started having the pockets sewn shut (so no one could slip a small pistol in them)?

  4. She comes from a very Russian, very Jewish Council district in Brooklyn. Very Conservative I might add. I’m surprised she was able to get a permit. I’m sure it came through because of her Council status.

      • “I’m surprised she was able to get elected.”

        Why?

        Most of the folks that live where she does are like her, Russian and Jewish. If that’s who shows up to vote on election day, Duh… 🙁

    • NYC got vastly easier to get a license compared to pre-Bruen. Don’t know if the political status would have helped in that case back when it would likely have been a determining factor along with “administrative fees”

  5. isn’t the knotted gun sculpture this gun carrying permit holder is in front of in New York in one of hochuls gun free zones?

  6. Good for her!

    Maybe if more NYC Jews would start carrying they would realize what the Rabbi who lives down the road from me says…”Never Again!”

    I have a difficult time trying to understand why the majority of Jews in the USA are Democrat. The history (and actions) of the Democrats is anything but tolerance for Jews…Catholics…blacks…and so on.

    If more Christians and Jews in NYC would get licensed, ostensibly in order to protect their churches / congregations, then, slowly, the tide against firearms in NYC might change as people’s perceptions, coupled with a positive exposure to firearms / carriers, might carry over into their voting choices.

    • I doubt the attitude would change. NYC has been programmed for so long that only gangsters carry gunms that anyone carrying a funm.is a gangster.

      • “NYC has been programmed for so long that only gangsters carry gunms that anyone carrying a funm.is a gangster.”

        You are correct, my Marsupial friend. People like her are changing that… 🙂

      • Only citizens *allowed* to carry guns is what it boiled down to by the 1920s. Gangster thrown in jail had lawyers, friends and allies. Honest citizen, jail was a big-time uhoh, no matter what, and any weapon was a trip to jail. Did not matter who started it.

        “…always at least 3 of them,, looking for trouble, too many to fight, if you had a gun, they would rat you out. If you didn’t they would beat the crap out of you.” – eyewitness account of the disarming of honest NYC, 1912-1934

    • Jews, just like anyone else, come in all political flavors. It’s no secret that city dwellers tend to be liberal and rural folks tend to be more conservative and this no different when it comes to Jewish people.

      However, because Jews have been persecuted and run out of country after country for centuries, they tend to gravitate to professions that are more portable and professional. Historically they have been merchants and professionals and those jobs tend to be city-oriented. There have not been many Jewish farmers since that is not a good profession when you get rousted out of bed in the middle of the night and need to escape the country with the clothes on your back and maybe one suitcase full of possessions. Being a jeweler, a lawyer, a college professor or physician is more portable when your assets are all in yours head or at least will fit in a suitcase.

      The fact that many Jews are liberal has more to do with the fact that most Jews live in big cities and relatively few live in rural areas. Almost every Jewish person I know who doesn’t live in a big city is quite conservative when it comes to politics and pretty much ALL of them are gun-owners.

  7. Seems the Rabbi and or church leaders could declare everyone with a permit as a member of the security team.
    Previous comments have stated she is a Republican and strong Trump supporter……good for her.

    • The places of worship ban in NYC carry law is on notice that its days are numbered. Any day now it will be permanently overturned by the courts. It is inevitable.

      One of the hardest parts of carrying in your church/synagogue in that city is traveling there and back since most people use public transportation and one can’t legally carry on the subway or busses either. One might need to store the firearm on site in a dedicated gun safe for such security personnel to avoid the transportation issue.

      • I had forgotten about the transportation issues. Storing them on site sounds like a good idea but when bad guys learned of that practice the sites would most likely draw them like a magnet as an invitation to break into or take the whole safe, if possible. I do hope things will work out in favor of the good citizens in New York.

  8. You might want to reconsider this marketing tactic.

    Or didn’t you see what happened to Target with their “tuck-friendly” merchandise?

  9. Last time I was in NYC. the rats were bigger than the average tomcat. A sidearm might be a good idea just for varmint/pest control. As for not feeling safe or antisemitism as a reason to carry, valid, but perhaps she should work on the majority of NY politicians being left wing Dementiacrats. Never understood the Marxist/socialist/Democrat support displayed by many of Jewish faith or by most minorities. Funny how the same party that owned the KKK and is still run by racists and bigots can attract and control so many of their victims.

    • Thats because Liberal/Progressive democrats are controlled by their emotions, rather than any possible intellect they may possess. Something the democrat leadership understood decades ago and have used to manipulate their acolytes from an early age through the Liberal/Progressive Educational Indoctrination system. Formally known as Public Education.

  10. regardless of her beliefs politically her carry permit is the result of being an elite. I hope she is working towards restoration of rights to all.

    • New York is a Shall-issue state now. Anyone can get a permit but there are a lot of hoops to jump through and the turnaround times are 12-14 months or even more delayed presently. This woman likely had her permit application in years ago -maybe even before the Bruen decision came out. I doubt being on the city council helped her any at all cutting through the red tape delays -especially since she is a Republican.

      • “New York is a Shall-issue state now.”

        let me fix that for you…

        New York is suppose to be a Shall-issue state now.

        • It is……….there are just fees and delays involved to keep up appearances. It will continue to get worse before it gets better and unfortunately I lost a few bets on that one but the winner of them is optimistic for the next 3 years or so.

    • Had to look this up. The NYC council is 45-6 Democrat.
      She has a better chance of converting water into wine.

        • Before last year yeah that would be an easy statement. Harder to tell now especially with some of the people I have seen get permits. What will be more interesting is how the various circuit courts of 1-4 rule on various related cases in the next year or three.

  11. She is a white Jewish woman. She is politically connected. So yes she meets the NYC requirement, to be allowed to have a gun permit.

    This is a 21st century example of racist gun control.

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