New Orleans Will Begin Returning Seized Firearms Monday, Says SAF

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http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=64048


New Orleans Will Begin Returning Seized Firearms Monday, Says SAF

4/14/2006 3:37:00 PM

To: National and State Desk

Contact: Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, 425-454-7012; Web: http://www.saf.org

BELLEVUE, Wash., April 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- More than seven months have passed since New Orleans residents were forcibly and illegally disarmed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and starting Monday, April 17, the City of New Orleans will be returning seized firearms to their rightful owners, thanks to legal action by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle Association (NRA).

"We've learned from the police that starting Monday at 8 a.m., New Orleans gun owners can get their firearms back," noted SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "The city had been denying for more than five months that these guns were in possession. Only when SAF and the NRA filed a motion to have Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley held in contempt of court did city officials miraculously discover that more than a thousand seized firearms were being stored."

Residents whose guns were taken should call the New Orleans Police at (504) 658-5503 or go in person to the Police Property and Evidence facility, at 400 North Jefferson Davis Parkway. Gun owners will have to provide proof of ownership, which could include a bill of sale, a description of the firearm including brand and model and the serial number or a notarized affidavit that describes the firearm. Citizens claiming their firearms will need proper identification, such as a driver's license. Before firearms are returned, New Orleans police will conduct a background check.

"Hopefully, this marks the beginning of the end to a legal battle that we've been waging since last fall," Gottlieb said. "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.

"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."

The Second Amendment Foundation (http://www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

 

[Lupinus]

I will believe it when I see it "That, oh no sir we don't have one of those (least not anymore after Sarg took a liking to it)"

And proof of ownership? A bill of sale? Yep cause every gun has a bill of ownership right? Serial number? Great...cept remember this little thing known as a flood? Ya know, bunch of water goes where it isn't supposed to. Yeah, that tends to destroy things you would write that down on like say oh...paper. Maybe some of yall have the serial numbers to every gun you own memorized....I don't, and I'm willing to bet the bulk of NO gun owners don't. This applies to that bill of sale thing above too. FLOOD you morons, it destroys papers and documents. Notorized desicription? Well just what counts as a discription? What needs to be discribed? How do I know I have described it well enough? Why does it have to be noterized? The notery has no clue what the gun looked like so what the heck is the point in that other then making me waste money to have someone put a worthless uneeded stamp on it? And a background check? I already own the thing you stole it from me why should I be submitted to yet another background check.

All in all a lot of BS and I am willing to bet more then a few people get the run around.

 

[garyk/nm]

Isn't election day Saturday the 22nd? What a fortuitous bit of timing, eh what?

 

[Standing Wolf]

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.

Should. Won't.

 

[Lupinus]

Course not SW

It'll just show they can and depending on the judge after the group spends a lot of its limited funds (unlike the city, which has virtually limited funds cause all it has to do it raise taxes if its legal fees get high enough) they will have to give them back and make it such a pain in the backside most people either wont bother or wont be able to.

 

[Kim]

I can't wait to see the front page of the NYT tomorrow where I can read an indepth article about the abridgement of 2nd amendment rights that went on in NO by the police. I can hardly wait to read the praise of the NRA in helping the downtrodden citizens aganist a corrupt government entity. Bias anyone.