DA reverses policy, says deputies can have firearms

The acting district attorney of Nassau County, New York, has restored Second Amendment rights to prosecutors after enacting a ban.

WND reported earlier this week Madeline Singas barred prosecutors from owning a handgun unless they receive a special exemption from her.

The directive said: “[A]ssistant district attorneys are not permitted to apply for a handgun permit nor own or possess a handgun while employed by the Nassau County district attorney. Any exception to this policy must be in writing and approved by the district attorney.”

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However, a memo from the DA’s office states a new policy has been proposed,
reported constitutional expert and law professor Eugene Volokh.

Prosecutors still will not be allowed to carry or possess a weapon while they are working, but they are “permitted to own and possess a legally registered handgun in their homes or for legally permitted activity unrelated to their employment and workplace.”

Anyone who purchases a gun as a result of the policy change is encouraged to take a firearm safety course, said the memo to Singas from Chief Assistant District Attorney Albert Teichman.

Under the proposed new policy, assistant district attorneys still “are strictly prohibited from carrying or possessing a weapon any time they are working, including, but not limited to work in the DA’s office, courthouses, crime scenes, witness interviews, meetings with other agencies, without the express written permission of the district attorney or the district attorney’s authorized designee.”

“Any Assistant DA who owns a handgun must supply a copy of all licensure and registration documentation to the DA’s office. Violations of this policy may result in termination.”

Teichman had explained that the reason for the outright ban was accidental shootings.

“This policy was established to absolutely avoid the dangers posed by armed, ununiformed lawyers working in charged situations like crime scenes, with other armed law enforcement, without proper firearms training, to prevent friendly fire tragedies like those that have occurred in recent years in Nassau County and neighboring jurisdictions,” he said.

The incidents included the 2006 shooting death of off-duty NYPD Officer Eric Hernandez by an on-duty officer and similar shootings in 2008 and 2009.

In Nassau County, plainclothes Officer Geoffrey Breitkopf was killed in 2011 by an MTA police officer at an active crime scene in Massapequa Park. The same year, off-duty ATF Special Agent John Capano was killed in a friendly fire incident involving a retired Nassau County Police Department lieutenant and off-duty NYPD officer during a pharmacy robbery, the memo said.

The analysis, however, found “public safety interests served by the policy can be substantially effectuated though a less-restrictive means that does not preclude ADAs from owning handguns, but strictly prohibits work-related possession and use.”

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