STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A defendant with no prior run-ins with law enforcement is preparing for a six-month stay on Rikers Island, after pleading guilty Friday to a 2023 gun charge.

His attorney, meanwhile, said after the hearing that the gun was intended only to “protect loved ones” in an “increasingly dangerous environment.”

Christopher Stewart, now 42, of the South Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, was arrested during a Sept. 28, 2023, car stop in Stapleton . On Friday, he pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to attempted criminal possession of a loaded firearm.

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