NO Top Cop Says He'll Confiscate Guns - Again!

[Preacherman]

From WWLTV.com in Louisiana:

Riley says he'll confiscate weapons if disaster strikes, gun rights activists outraged

10:29 PM CDT on Friday, June 2, 2006

Jonathan Betz / WWL-TV News Reporter

Gun rights activists were up in arms Friday after New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley said he would confiscate weapons should disaster strike.

The chief’s comments came after a federal lawsuit forced the city to return hundreds of firearms that were seized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In an interview with WWL Radio, Riley said his officers would seize guns from people on the streets if another storm was to hit New Orleans.

“During a circumstance like that, we cannot allow people to walk the street carrying guns…as law enforcement officers we will confiscate the weapon if a person is walking down the street and they may be arrested,” Riley said.

The National Rifle Association sued the city and forced it to return hundreds of guns, after officers seized them during Katrina. Gun rights activists were once again outraged by Riley's comments.

”It’s shocking, there's nothing about a police chief's opinion that gives them a super sized authority to throw the constitution out the window,” said NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne Lapierre.

“God spared a lot of people in this storm, he also spared a lot of violent people who were committing violent crimes with firearms,” one ATF agent said regarding the confiscation of weapons during Katrina.

But gun activists said the move robbed people of their right to protect themselves when chaos ruled the city.

“Your firearm in your home, was the only protection from the criminal element,” said State Representative Steve Scalise.

Chief Riley said Friday that officers would not again enter people’s homes to seize weapons.

During Katrina, state law gave the chief the authority to take guns during an emergency. Since then lawmakers have re-written the law, making it a crime, one they said the chief was threatening to commit.

“He does not have the right to confiscate their firearms, nobody in this country does, that's why we have a 2nd amendment to our constitution,” said Scalise.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

What'd'ya Bet...

...Riley won't be on the front lines of any confiscations risking his own life.

Woody

"I swear to protect the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, but I am not trigger-happy. I am merely prepared and determined in its defense. It's a comfortable place to be. I don't suffer doubt. Test my resolve on pain of death." B.E.Wood

 

[Hyunchback]

Of course he won't. He, along with gun-grabbing Ray will be safely esconced in a comfy command center a long, long way away from the trouble.

God help the good people of New Orleans, though. Come hell or high water I won't send another dime to help out any city that lets that twosome stay in power.

Maybe the NRA could set up a special donations center to allow people to send donations straight to the NRA and then send a nice e-mail to Ray Nagin telling him that donations have been made to the NRA in his honor when he's out begging for funds again?

 

[meef]

God help the good people of New Orleans, though. Come hell or high water I won't send another dime to help out any city that lets that twosome stay in power.

Funny. I was just thinking the very same thing.

 

[Standing Wolf]

God help the good people of New Orleans...

They should help themselves.

 

[TexasRifleman]

They should help themselves.

They did. They re-elected Nagin and company.

Let them rot if another storm hits......

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Let them rot if another storm hits......

I totally agree. They had an opportunity to dump Nagin, and chose not to do it. They get what they deserve. Hurricane season is here, and maybe God will finish what he started last year.

 

[Steve in PA]

Perhaps NO needs a law like PA:

§6107. Prohibited conduct during emergency.

No person shall carry a firearm, rifle or shotgun upon the public streets or upon any public property during an emergency proclaimed by a state or municipal governmental executive unless that person is:

(1) Actively engaged in a defense of that person’s life or property from peril or threat.

(2) Licensed to carry firearms under section 6109 (relating to licenses) or is exempt from licensing under section 6106(b) (relating to firearms not to be carried without a license).

 

[Lindenberger]

Nagin

I can't believe that they re-elected that idiot. If another hurricane hits--and it surely will--I request that all donations be sent to the ASPCA instead. The dogs and cats are innocent--and they don't have the cognitive abilities that New Orleaneans alledgedly have.

 

[Manedwolf]

My state just enacted a law making it a Class B Felony for anyone, even a LEO, to attempt to take legally owned firearms from a citizen even in the event of a disaster.

Perhaps other states can use the wording as a model?

 

[beerslurpy]

The only problem last time was that the people didnt know what to expect. When they heard "we're from the government and we're here to help" they didnt realize that they meant "...here to help ourselves to your firearms." I suspect next time people will be far less trusting and hopefully far less cooperative.

 

[Manedwolf]

The only problem last time was that the people didnt know what to expect. When they heard "we're from the government and we're here to help" they didnt realize that they meant "...here to help ourselves to your firearms." I suspect next time people will be far less trusting and hopefully far less cooperative.

Unfortunately, that'll likely just get them bodyslammed against a wall when the JBT's barge in, shouting, as they did in many homes there.

 

[beerslurpy]

The JBTs were invited in most of the time because people thought they were there to help. Next time around they will get answers through a locked door like "we're fine- do you have a warrant?" I honestly doubt they are going to be doing a ton of dynamic entries during a disaster.

Maybe my understanding is flawed, but I suspect:
-people will be alert, armed and wary of looters, so SWAT wont have the element of surprise. No one will. Kicking in doors is a prime way to get shot during a Katrina.
-there are tons of residents with guns and very few SWAT ninjas to go around, even during the best of times in a large city
-during a disaster (especially a flood/hurricane) resources will be stretched super thin, so this will result in less people than usual to perform the entries and difficulty evacuating casualties or bringing in reinforcements (when things inevitably go sour)

It basically boils down to there being a ton of stuff already going wrong in a diaster- so WHY make it worse and waste valuable resources antagonizing law abiding folk when you could be out improving the situation?

 

[Sodbuster]

There's hope with state senator Scalise. I bet he has a lot of support behind him.

 

[Lupinus]

and I wonder who is going to go to jail when someone actualy stands up for their right and shoots one of the gun grabbers that come knocking while they are busy trying to defend their families.

 

[Manedwolf]

and I wonder who is going to go to jail when someone actualy stands up for their right and shoots one of the gun grabbers that come knocking while they are busy trying to defend their families.

If it's bona fide police officers, some innocent person will go to jail for that, yes.

However, I think that if it's the DynCorp mercenaries doing the policing, there'd just be a few more floating bodies, an empty house, and nobody saw nothin'.

 

[Pilgrim]

The face of Tyranny speaks.

 

[Sindawe]

Perhaps NO needs a law like PA:

§6107. Prohibited conduct during emergency.

No person shall carry a firearm, rifle or shotgun upon the public streets or upon any public property during an emergency proclaimed by a state or municipal governmental executive unless that person is:

(1) Actively engaged in a defense of that person’s life or property from peril or threat.

(2) Licensed to carry firearms under section 6109 (relating to licenses) or is exempt from licensing under section 6106(b) (relating to firearms not to be carried without a license).

Looks like such in still in the works for LA. HB 760 was signed by the President of the Senate last week. I think it goes to the governor next.

Link to the the bill: http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/byinst.asp?sessionid=06rs&billtype=HB&billno=760

 

[beerslurpy]

That PA law looks great. I like the blanket permission to carry a weapon openly during an emergency if you are defending yourself or your property from peril.

Florida doesnt have such an exmpetion and it has a blanket ban on open carry- BUT you can open carry on your own property and obviously meet force with force, so in practice there wont be much difference.

 

[Sephiroth]

Uhhhh... he said the weapon would be confiscated if one was carrying one in the street, most likely insinuating open carry. That's a big difference between keeping it at home to defend yourself and your property with. All of those roving gangs we've heard about in the wake of Katrina were such types. I don't think any responsible gun owner would do the same. Lugging around a rifle on those streets of anarchy would make you a target for someone not of law enforcement persuation (i.e. lawless) to relieve you of your weapon, and possibly your life in the process. I feel that there was some misunderstood momentum with his statement, but maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

 

[Warren]

Sephiroth sayeth.......

Uhhhh... he said the weapon would be confiscated if one was carrying one in the street, most likely insinuating open carry. That's a big difference between keeping it at home to defend yourself and your property with. All of those roving gangs we've heard about in the wake of Katrina were such types. I don't think any responsible gun owner would do the same.

People were guarding their neighborhoods with their openly carried weapons.

They did this while standing outside their homes, sometimes in the street.

So yes you had responsible gun owners in the street, and it is unfair to malign them and lump them in with the scum.

In another emergency I don't see the RGOs who are defending their property and their entire neighborhood giving a damn about what some idiot bureaucrat and his henchmen want or try to do.

 

[Bluehawk]

"carrying a firearm in the streets"
The only time I can forsee doing such is if your home was unfit to live in or destroyed so that you had to live on the street or in a park...etc during the emergency. Hopefully local police would be able to know the difference between those who were displaced and camped out and those who were on the prowl for victims. I realize thats a stretch but it would'nt be all that difficult to determine who belongs there mostly by belongings (meager as they might be) family members, pets, behavior...etc
It would all boil down to the individual officers...a judgement call on whether to confiscate and arrest or not. I personally wouldn't just wander down the street with a weapon in plain view in a situation like this unless I was well known to the police in the area but in New Orleans at that time many police personnel deserted the job and the city itself so it would be a crap shoot betting that any officer would know me!

 

[Sephiroth]

What if he meant city streets, as in downtown city streets where most of those gangs were roaming? And how is an LEO supposed to recognize, on the spot, between an armed group of community watch members who stayed behind to protect their neighborhood and an armed band of thugs rummaging through a neighborhood? There are an innumerable amount of variables.

Let's get something straight while we're at it. I think those LEO's were a necessary element on the scene of the aftermath, in the streets doing their job to restore some level of order in a state of total anarchy. But before you jump on me for that, I do not agree with the whole entering homes and confiscating weapons. That was an extremely bad call. However, given this, I feel that the chief's statements were extremely vague and generalized, allowing for misinterpretation.

My point is this: Would you walk down Burbon Street with your GP WASR-10 or DPMS AR/M4 variant aimlessly and without purpose? Unless you signed up for some sort of volunteer rescue and security force, I don't see why you wouldn't be at home, protecting your family and property. And as far as the neighborhood is concerned in such a state of crisis... I've got nothing against that. But I think common sense says that the next time you're in that situation, and you're armed with some sort of Kalashnikov walking from your house to Old Man Peterson's home across the street to check on him and his family, that when that SWAT APC comes rolling down that very street, you're about to make those LEO's extremely anxious when they see you and your weapon. And how's this for perspective: What if, during all of this, you were black?

 

[Autolycus]

Our legislators here in IL are far to progressive for that. Why would you ever need a gun during a disaster? The government will take care of you. Thats how they thing around these parts.

I feel that there is not hope for us in IL sometimes. Hopefully the people will wise up before the next hurricane and the government will wise up as well.

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

-there are tons of residents with guns and very few SWAT ninjas to go around, even during the best of times in a large city
-during a disaster (especially a flood/hurricane) resources will be stretched super thin, so this will result in less people than usual to perform the entries and difficulty evacuating casualties or bringing in reinforcements (when things inevitably go sour)

Many of the firearm confiscating anti-American, freedom hating JBT thugs were imported from other states. In fact, many of the confiscators were law enforcement from California. Not saying all cops are those things, but the one's who take guns are.


BTW, where are the naysayers and confiscation deniers and JBT apologists to come out and defend this chief-JBT's statements? LMAO. Please, go ahead and find a justification or excuse for the elitist, anti-firearm, anti-individuality, anti-rights mentality of this statist police thug. I'm waiting eagerly.


Folks, the problem isn't the confiscation in and of itself, it is the prevailing mentality of tyrants that order such acts. We will never be free of tyranny because an evil action was reversed, or a law was passed to prevent it. Evil will continue so long as we allow evil-minded people to acheive positions of authority.


Think about that.