DA’s anti-gun policy for prosecutors sparks debate

MINEOLA>> After a suburban district attorney barred her prosecutors from keeping handguns, even at home, her office said the goal was safety. But the now-changed restriction has touched off debate about whether prosecutors should be packing heat.

The Nassau County district attorney’s office loosened the policy last week but still prohibits prosecutors from carrying guns at work, saying that could be dangerous or discomfiting in a job known for sensitive, unpredictable situations.

Some other DAs say they allow prosecutors to carry guns precisely because their jobs can be dangerous — to them. One has even offered to pay for his prosecutors to apply for gun permits.

The episode has renewed attention to the risks prosecutors can face and how far they should go to protect themselves.

“There are cases where you’re physically in danger if you’re an assistant DA,” says William Fitzpatrick, president of the National District Attorneys Association. It hasn’t taken up the issue of prosecutors having guns and generally consid- ers security a matter for each DA to decide.

But as the DA in Syracuse, Fitzpatrick knows some attorneys on his staff have permits to carry guns, and he understands why: “It’s not unique for a prosecutor to be the subject of threats.”

More than a dozen prosecutors have been killed in the U.S. in the last century, at least eight of them targeted in the line of duty. In 2013, a North Texas DA, an assistant prosecutor and the DA’s wife were killed in what authorities said was a revenge plot by a former justice of the peace who had lost his job after being convicted of stealing county equipment. He has since been convicted of killing the DA’s wife and charged, butnot tried, in the other slayings.

The Nassau County DA’s office, on New York’s Long Island, had different perils in mind when it began prohibiting prosecutors from owning guns in 2006, unless the DA granted an exception. The office said it wasn’t certain whether anyone had applied.

The policy aimed to “avoid the dangers posed by armed, un-uniformed lawyers working in charged situations like crime scenes” — dangers such as friendly fire, according to a memo written last week.