SAFE Act faces new challenges

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
May 28, 2013
The controversial New York SAFE Act suffered two setbacks in the last week as the New York State Sheriffs Association had filed an amicus brief as part of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association lawsuit and the Columbia County District Attorney has decided not to prosecute a man arrested under the new law.

In addition to the sheriff's motion to have their view of the law on the record in the suit against the state, the association, along with five individual sheriffs, are asking to join the suit as plaintiffs.

According to the brief, the sheriffs want to have their opinion on the record in the case because they are on "the front lines" of law enforcement and say the "challenged laws are unduly vague and fail to provide sufficient guidelines for officers to equitably administer laws."

In their brief, the sheriffs argue that the SAFE Act "restrict commonly-owned arms that are widely chosen by law-abiding citizens for self defense within their homes. Law enforcement officers are no exception to this practice."

Their argument is that because the firearms now classified as assault-weapons are commonly used by citizens to protect themselves they are protected under the District of Columbia v. Heller decision. That ruling found "law abiding citizens, including members of the law enforcement community, are guaranteed the right to acquire, possess, and use [commonly-owned firearms] for lawful purposes, including self defense."

The brief says the Heller decision invalidated the D.C. handgun ban, therefore the SAFE Act laws are "per se invalid."

Meanwhile, Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka decided not to prosecute a Dutchess County man who had been arrested and charged with unlawful possession of certain ammunition feeding devices, a new misdemeanor charge under the law.

Czajka said he was not making a "blanket policy" in his decision to decline prosecution.

"I took all of the circumstances into consideration before I exercised my prosecutorial discretion," Czajka said in a phone interview with The Legislative Gazette. He said future decisions that deal with the prosecution of SAFE Act violations would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
In this case, the offender was found to be in a possession of a legally owned and registered .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun containing nine bullets in the magazine. He had no prior criminal record. But the SAFE Act restricts magazine capacity to seven rounds.

This is just the latest in backlash against the five-month-old law. Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to repeal the laws, 52 of 62 New York counties have passed resolutions condemning the law and to date three protests against the SAFE Act have been held at the Capitol. Another is scheduled for June 11.