A Chautauqua County man who sold two assault weapons to an undercover police investigator has become the state’s first arrest for a violation of the NY SAFE Act.
Benjamin M. Wassell, 32, of Hanover, allegedly sold the illegal firearms in January and February, after the gun law banning assault weapons went into effect.
“The defendant is accused of illegally selling assault weapons not once, but twice. Add to that, he was willing to sell to someone without knowing anything about their background, and it’s exactly the type of dangerous and illegal activity that can lead to more gun violence in our communities,” State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said in a statement Thursday.
Wassell is accused of selling a DelTon DTI-15 assault rifle outfitted with a pistol grip, a telescoping butt stock and a bayonet mount, as well as a Armalite AR-10 Magnum semiautomatic rifle. The criminal sale of an illegal weapon is a class D felony.
He was arraigned Thursday in the Town of Hanover Court and has been released upon his own recognizance. He will return to court March 20, where he will be represented by a public defender, according to the attorney general’s office.
5 Comments
An assault rifle by definition is capible of fully automatic or burst fire, so you already prove that you dont have a clue.
Second, an AR-10 is not a magnum, as it is not chambered in a magnum caliber. Commonly chambered in a 7.62 NATO (100% interchangeable with a .308 Winchester so dont give me that military ammo B.S.) it can also be chambered in other calibers based off of that cartrige, such as a .243 Winchester.
If your going to attempt to unconstitutionally restrict the peoples right gaurnteed by the US and NYS constitutions, you may want to sound like you have a clue.
Shows how successful gun laws are.
As usual, the gun owner focuses on the trivia of the machinery, instead of on the purpose of regulation: to prevent the deaths of innocent citizens at the hands of disabled people with weapons that feed their fantasies. And if you’re going to argue the Second Amendment, Alex, you might learn at least to spell. You write as if you have barely a clue. I’d give it a D minus.
I like how some one has it all laid out and even took the time to remove the rounds from the boxs. One of the things they do not mention is what did the police officer say to this man before the transaction took place. Did the man ask for some form of ID from the purchaser (cop) If the ID presented was for out of state. Then the person selling the weapon thought it was OK because the Safe act says you had 365 days to sell weapons or mags to someone out of state or you would be breaking the law. So now they are making people who still have them and are trying to be LAW ABIDING people criminals because they are trying to follow the law and attempt to recoup some of the money they have in the weapon rather then just destroy it.
Wouldn’t be able to sell out of state private party, you need to transfer through an FFL to sell a firearm to a non resident of your state.