HUDSON, N.Y. — Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka has dropped a misdemeanor charge lodged against a Dutchess County man under the state’s controversial new gun control law.
Czajka said he exercised his “prosecutorial discretion” in deciding not to pursue the case against 31-year-old Gregory Dean for violating the state’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act.
“Simply put, I considered all the circumstances, and after reviewing the file and talking to the state trooper, decided to exercise my prosecutorial discretion and declined to prosecute,” Czajka said.
About 9:45 p.m. on May 12, Dean, of Hopewell Junction, was stopped by state police on state Route 22 in the Columbia County town of New Lebanon for having an inadequate license plate lamp.
According to authorities, while the trooper was interviewing Dean, he saw a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun, partially covered by a sweatshirt, on the front passenger seat.
Dean had a license to carry the weapon, but the loaded magazine contained nine rounds of ammunition. The number of rounds of ammunition allowed in a handgun is limited to seven under the new state law.
Columbia County DA Paul Czajka declines to prosecute NY SAFE Act violation – DailyFreeman.com
h/t to Blade
Sounds like the Deputy failed to execute a little discretion.
Indeed, the officer could have nipped it in the bud. Actually he was a State Trooper and as such, probably had no discretion. I’ll explain.
In upstate NY (which means everything above Westchester even if it is in Southern NY) the county Sheriff is considered the highest authority and they truly have some accountability as most of them (maybe all) are elected. Consequently, you don’t mind finding out the flashing lights in your rear-view mirror belong to a Deputy Sheriff. Sheriff departments pretty closely reflect the people of the county they serve, they come from those people, in most cases they handle the pistol licenses, they are normally trustworthy.
Each town, city and village also has their own police, the so-called local cops, but are completely different in attitude and accountability. In my experience these are the keystone cops with some exceptions here and there. In the places I have been, if you need to call the cops you will be wise to call the Sheriff, not the locals.
Then we have the State Troopers. These are far and away the least accountable being an arm of the Governor and and stereotypically politically correct. They are a dangerous bunch because they do see themselves as above everyone, an elite force like a Praetorian Guard. As early as the 1970’s they were already drowning in political correctness, establishing hard quotas for hiring, women and black being the target demographics. I had a white friend, the prototypical straight-and-narrow Marine Corps vet who was denied because they added points to the test results of target types they desired. It wasn’t even a secret, candidates were told as much. They have only gotten worse in every way. Just Google for the stories of the State Troopers and Governor Elliot Spitzer for a taste.
So this story with the Trooper has several angles. Most likely the Trooper if he was so inclined to look the other way couldn’t do it. That’s assuming he might want to look the other way. Most people don’t become State Troopers with all the baggage that goes with it if they value the Constitution in the first place. If they cannot completely conform to the program (pogrom?) why join? If they were TEA partiers or really any kind of activist or outspoken in support of the Constitution and its principles they would eventually be found out by their internal affairs and fired.
I imagine other States are very similar. New Jersey is the same or worse for example.
What isn’t clear yet is whether that County DA was standing on principle or whether he was asked to make it go away because such a case in the higher courts might just torpedo the core of Cuomo’s civil-rights violating, anti-Second Amendment anti-American gun law.