New York DA Prohibits Prosecutors from Owning Guns

If you are a prosecutor in Nassau County and enjoy your Second Amendment rights, you might want to consider looking for another job.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office on New York’s Long Island bars its prosecutors from possessing a handgun, even at home, unless a special exception is made by the Acting District Attorney, Madeline Singas, according to an application for employment.

We aren’t talking about concealing and carrying a firearm, we are talking about merely owning a firearm. And this prohibition is coming from a government office!

“[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,” the application states.

I hope I’m not the only once concerned about the Nassau County District Attorney Office’s grasp of constitutional principles.

Eugene Volokh, professor at UCLA School of Law, says this is a violation of the prosecutors’ rights.

“Prosecutors often have special reasons they may want to be able to defend themselves,” Volokh told FoxNews.com.

“I’m not arguing they should have extra rights beyond what everyone else has; I’m arguing they should have the same rights,” Volokh said.

The DA’s Office provided a statement to Volokh that said: “Our practice of asking prosecutors to not possess handguns is to ensure the safety and comfort of staff, victims, and witnesses, and is consistent with other district attorney’s offices in the New York City metropolitan area.”

But in one’s own home? How does this “ensure the safety and comfort” of a gun-owning prosecutor’s work colleagues?

“Handgun possession in the home does not interfere with the prosecutor’s ability to do his or her work,” he told FoxNews.com. “The Second Amendment restricts the government’s ability to ban handguns.”

“Thanks to Singas’ policy, Nassau County prosecutors will be finding themselves especially exposed, should they be forced to confront an aggrieved offender bent on doing them or their innocent family members harm,” the NRA said in a statement on its website. “The policy will also ensure that armed offenders have the upper hand in any such confrontation,” the group said.

This “policy” is gross government overreach. Hopefully we will see this policy overturned before one of the prosecutors finds himself the object of “payback” from a criminal.

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