West Webster Fire District Stays Neutral on Gun Legislation, Supports Provision
By: Caroline Tucker
Updated: January 15, 2013
Firefighters in West Webster are still mourning the shooting deaths of their brothers--Tomasz Koczowka and Mike Chiapperini.
The new gun control law may be controversial and the West Webster Fire District is not taking a position.
"It's not what we do, there are widely varying opinins within the organization and as far as the district is concerned we are staying out of the discussion," said
But the department does have a position on part of the plan referred to as the 'Webster provision'.
It's also called Mark's Law, named after a emergency technician shot and killed in Northern New York in 2009.
"We support that provision, it's probably a sad state of affairs when you have to legislate the protection of any emergency responder in the community but that is the world we live in right now," said
The provision gives the stiffest penalty available for murdering a first responder -- life without parole.
It's the same protections already given to law enforcment.
The West Webster Fire District says its grateful for the provision to protect first responders but says it may not have prevented the Christmas Eve shooting.
"Because he was intent on what he was going to do it was going to come off the way he wanted it to come off, he probably cared less about what the law was," said Al Sienkiewicz, West Webster Fire Spokesperson.
Sienkiewicz says the 'Webster provision' highlights the importance of first responders and the work they do.
"The magnitude of the incident is just overshadowed by the magnitude of the community response," said Sienkiewicz.
That part of the law, and the support of the community, is helping the scarred department pull through.
