New Orleans... Again...
New Orleans Begins Returning Seized Guns
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
After more than seven months of waiting, New Orleans residents have been getting their firearms back as a result of legal pressure brought against the city by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle Association (NRA).
“Hopefully, this marks the beginning of the end to a legal battle that we’ve been waging since last fall,” said Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder. “Our victory in court should send a clear signal that no mayor or police chief can suspend the Constitution on a whim, or seize private property, including firearms, from private citizens without due process.”
The gun returns began one day before the NRA held a Town Hall meeting in New Orleans that explored the gun seizures with local residents.
The gun returns are being done on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first gun return was processed about 30 minutes after the property facility opened for business on April 17, as Gun Week spoke by telephone to an officer at the facility.
New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane and flooding last August that occurred when dikes broke that allowed water to flow into many of the city’s neighborhoods, which are below sea level. The disaster stretched into September, but within days of the storm, as chaos reigned and order broke down, then-Police Supt. Eddie Compass announced that all privately-held firearms would be seized and only police would be allowed to have guns.
That order was given with no legal authority, according to a successful federal lawsuit filed against the city and neighboring St. Tammany Parish by SAF and NRA. That lawsuit quickly brought a temporary restraining order against both jurisdictions, but not before gun rights activists nationwide were outraged by news footage of citizens being disarmed by police and National Guard troopers who were brought to the city from around the country to restore order.
The most infamous film of all was recorded when California Highway Patrol officers gang tackled 57-year-old Patricia Konie for refusing to be evacuated from her home, which had been left high and dry. She displayed a vintage Colt revolver just before she was body slammed with such force that she later required surgery, according to an account from her attorney Ashton O’Dwyer, interviewed late last year by Gun Week.
As the SAF/NRA lawsuit continued, New Orleans officials repeatedly insisted that no guns had been confiscated by officers in the city. Then, in mid-March, after the two gun rights organizations filed a motion to have New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Supt. Warren Riley held in contempt for violation of a consent order, the attorney for the city surprised attorneys for SAF and NRA by admitting that there were hundreds of guns being held at a police property storage facility.
Police sources in the city told Gun Week that gunowners could get their firearms back if they provided some proof of ownership, such as make, model and serial number or a signed affidavit with a description of the gun. They also had to go through background checks before guns would be returned.
“Natural disasters may destroy great cities, but they do not destroy civil rights,” Gottlieb observed. “Law-abiding citizens who are victims of nature must never again be victimized by governments that strip them of their only means of self-defense. America must never forget the lesson of New Orleans. Public officials better remember that if they ever try another arbitrary seizure of firearms from their law-abiding owners, SAF will be there to stop them.”
