By +Scott Leffler 
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com

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WHEATFIELD — The Niagara County Sheriff's Office is investigating an explosion overnight at the home of Niagara County Legislature Chairman Bill Ross.

Police found Ross' stepson, 44-year-old Michael C. O’Neill — a former employee of the Niagara County Jail — with a "catastrophic injury to his foot." They also found bomb-making equipment.

"There was like powder and so forth. Cylinders to put it in. That sort of stuff," said Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour. He added, "That all has to be tested and confirmed but it was enough suspiction for us to move forward."

The Niagara County Sheriff's Office Criminal Division is now investigating the incident with he help of the Erie County Bomb Squad, ATF and FBI.

Police say the female 911 caller was providing first aid by applying direct pressure to the injury when they arrived. Mercy Flight responded and transported O'Neill to ECMC.

Voutour said the man's injuries are bad, but said, "I don't think it's life threatening."

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A pair of Niagara County legislators who, last week, won unanimous backing for condemnation of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ pursuit of a ban on a popular rifle bullet, have now praised that agency’s decision to back down — but still questioned why federal bureaucrats ever contemplated the move in the first place.

Majority Leader Rick Updegrove, R-Lockport, and Legislator John Syracuse, R-Newfane, issued the following statements Tuesday:

The ATF’s decision to not pursue a ban on various bullets is welcome, but it should never have come to this point. Government bureaucrats circumventing the lawmaking process set forth in the Constitution is a bigger problem than just this one instance. Still, we are glad that the Obama Administration has changed course and backed down from actions that undermined the Second Amendment and Congress’ role in making laws.

— Rick Updegrove

The actions of the Obama ATF were a wake-up call. In New York, we have seen this same dangerous trend play out with the SAFE Act: policies and laws that do nothing to curtail real crime and real criminals, and instead criminalize the conduct of law-abiding citizens. The ATF blinked in this Constitutional fight, but more than half of the U.S. Congress, dozens of notable leaders across the country, and our own County Legislature should never have had to demand our Constitution be respected by the Obama Administration in the first place.

— John Syracuse

RELATED LINK: 

• Legislature unanimous in denouncing 'bullet-ban'

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