Veteran pleads not guilty to 1st SAFE Act violation
Benjamin M. Wassell is more than just the state’s first defendant accused of illegal weapon sales under its tough new gun control law.
He’s an Iraq War hero who, despite a traumatic brain injury from an improvised explosive device that destroyed his vehicle back in 2006, was able to lead other wounded Marines through a minefield to safety, according to loved ones and military records.
The 32-year-old Silver Creek man, who family members say would still be in the Marines had he not been severely injured, is also a devoted husband and father of two young children.
But Wednesday morning in Hanover Town Court, Wassell found himself at the center of the fierce debate spawned by the New York SAFE Act, adopted in response to the slaughter of Connecticut schoolchildren late last year.
Dressed in a dark suit, the hulking man, a towering 6 feet, 5 inches, his hair closely cropped, sat by his wife, who held their 4-month-old son, as more than 75 people, most of them supporters, crowded the courtroom.
“I can’t speak about the case,” Wassell told a reporter.
It didn’t matter.
Others were more than willing to tell the story of Ben Wassell, starting off by saying he was unfairly arrested in an undercover State Police operation based on what his supporters say is an unjust law.
“My son served two terms in Iraq and was wounded twice. He was a sergeant in the Marines. He’s a good man. He’ll do anything for anybody. What they’re doing to him is very unfair,” Dianne Wassell said.
Patrick Hurley, his father-in-law, said that it is hard for Wassell to accept that he is now on the other side of the law.
“This is tearing him up. He’s very patriotic. He has no criminal record,” Hurley said.
Authorities, though, say Wassell flouted the new law by taking advantage of an increased demand for the banned assault-style weapons by adding features to make the two rifles he sold illegal and thereby increase their value.
He is accused of selling a Del-Ton AR-15 rifle, 299 rounds of ammunition and six large-capacity clips for $1,900 on Jan. 24, nine days after the SAFE Act was passed. That gun had an illegal pistol grip, telescoping butt and bayonet mount. On Feb. 24, he allegedly sold an Armalite AR-10 Magnum semiautomatic rifle with 21 rounds of ammunition for $2,600. That gun had a pistol grip.
Rest of the article here:
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130320/CITYANDREGION/130329919/1010
