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SAFE Act seven-round capacity limit nonenforcement zone now at 100 percent in WNY

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Mon, Feb 18th 2019 11:35 am

With addition of Wayne County, WNY is unanimous in SAFE Act seven-round limit nonenforcement

Joining his colleagues in Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Wyoming, Allegany, Steuben, Ontario, Livingston, Monroe, Yates, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Seneca, Chemung, Orleans and Schuyler counties, Wayne County District Attorney Michael Calarco stated he will not prosecute any violation of the SAFE Act seven-round capacity limit.

“To my knowledge, Wayne County has not prosecuted nor arrested a seven-round SAFE Act case that I am aware of,” Calarco said. “I am bound to uphold the Constitution of the state of New York and the Constitution of the United States. If the statute has been declared unconstitutional, I would not prosecute such a case, consistent with the position of the other DA’s offices and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. If there is a case pending on that issue, I will have to look at it; but, to my knowledge, we don’t have one. We are bound to follow the applicable and current law in all cases.”

2AWNY civil rights advocate Steve Felano said, “A unanimous decision by all 17 district attorneys across Western New York that they will not prosecute the unconstitutional SAFE Act seven-round capacity limit provision is an important first step in reclaiming the Second Amendment civil rights of all New Yorkers.

Along with a group of Western New York Second Amendment supporters, Felano asked all WNY district attorneys to advise, with all deliberate speed, if they would halt enforcement of the SAFE Act seven-round limit in their respective counties. Among the responses:

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said, “The legal standard in looking at a federal case is useful and/or persuasive. And when I have a federal circuit court decision, which is very useful and very persuasive, I’m going to follow that. So, from this day forward, I have 23 cases that are still pending with this particular penal law violation. I’m going to dismiss all 23 of those, and going forward, I will not prosecute this particular provision anymore.”

Niagara County District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek said, “I join with my Erie County counterpart not to prosecute this ammunition provision. Any pending charges under this section will be dismissed.”

Following are the legal challenges to the SAFE Act and the New York State pistol-permitting requirement:

Libertarian Party of Erie County v. Cuomo – This case, to be argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 20 (one step away from U.S. Supreme Court review), seeks to nullify New York state’s pistol permit requirement.

The People of the State of New York v. Benjamin Wassell – This case, to be argued in New York State Supreme Court on Feb. 28, seeks to reverse a SAFE Act conviction applied to a Western New York resident, and overturn the SAFE Act in total.

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