Make New York Post a Preferred Source A gun-toting New York City judge who pulled out a pistol in court to “deceive” a testifying police officer was admonished by a state judicial ethics commission for his “little experiment,” according to an announcement Tuesday.
Criminal court Judge Jeffrey Gershuny whipped out his personal gun to challenge whether a testifying police officer back in 2025 could have actually identified if a suspect was carrying the weapon in a shopping bag.
But as he went to pull out his personal 9mm pistol — to the discomfort of court officers in the room — he actually hid the gun on the ground and placed a stapler in a shopping bag in a bid to trick the cop.
It was a bizarre move that the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct said deserves official censure.
“Public confidence in the integrity of the courts depends on judges being honest and above-board,” said CJC administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian.
“Judge Gershuny did not abide by that standard when he engaged in an elaborate deception and essentially tried to trick a witness on a significant evidentiary matter.”
Gershuny, seated at the bench, whipped out his personal and licensed SIG Sauer P365, removed the magazine, and told a court officer of his plan to show the testifying cop his gun “and make the witness think he was putting the firearm in a bag when in fact he was putting a stapler in the bag,” according to CJC documents.
“What it is about the bag and [the] firearm in the bag that gives off a distinction of it being a firearm,” Gershuny said as he announced his “little experiment” during an August 5, 2025 hearing in a felony gun case.
The incident, first reported by The Post shortly after it happened, shows how the then-Brooklyn Criminal Court jurist “intentionally deceived a witness in open court” by swapping out the gun for a stapler, the CJC said.
Both the court officer and her supervisor were uncomfortable with the plan and advised Gershuny against proceeding, but the judge plowed ahead and told the witness that he was placing his gun in a shopping bag from discount retailer Five Below.
In reality, he put the gun on the floor and placed a stapler inside the bag, the documents say, yet “asked the officer a number of questions about what he repeatedly and falsely represented was a gun in the bag,” the CJC found.
“I guess you what you[sic] identified is an L-shaped object, which is a Swingline Stapler,” Gershuny said, who then blocked the gun from entering evidence — despite the witness never stating that he could tell if it was a gun or not in the judge’s bag.
Gershuny, currently a Manhattan Criminal Court judge, was docked pay and status by court administrators at the time and banned from carrying a gun into court.
The report notes that Gershuny fully “cooperated” with the CJC’s investigation.
The CJC also “urged” court administrators to “review the rules related to certain judges carrying weapons in the courthouse.”
In recommending censure, the CJC says they hope Gershuny “has learned from this experience.”
