After increasing public scrutiny, acting Nassau County, N.Y., District Attorney Madeline Singas rescinded a policy that prohibited prosecutors from having handguns. Earlier this month, UCLA constitutional law professor Eugene Volokh wrote a blog post for the Washington Post, raising questions about the policy’s constitutionality. The policy and its surrounding controversy quickly became the subject of local and national news stories.
For nearly a decade, Nassau County assistant district attorneys on New York’s Long Island were barred from owning handguns. As part of the application process, prospective candidates were required to agree to the policy, forbidding them from having a handgun on the job and at home. The policy was reversed Wednesday after days of pressure from the media and gun rights organizations. Under the new policy, prosecutors are now permitted to own handguns, but are still prohibited from possessing them while they’re on duty in their office or at crime scenes.
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