Second Amendment Foundation
SAF, NRA ASK FEDERAL COURT TO HALT NEW ORLEANS GUN SEIZURES BATON ROUGE,
LA (Sept. 22) The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle
Association (NRA) joined with individual gun owners in Louisiana Thursday
morning, filing a motion in United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana seeking a temporary
restraining order to stop authorities in and around the City of New Orleans
from seizing firearms from private citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina.
Click here to make a contribution to help fund this lawsuit.
Arbitrary gun seizures, without warrant or probable cause, have been
reported during the past three weeks since the Crescent City was devastated
by the hurricane. In cases reported to SAF, police refused to give citizens
receipts for their seized firearms. Earlier, SAF insisted that police
account for all seized firearms, disclose their whereabouts, and explain how
they will be returned to their rightful owners. Authorities have not
responded.
Gun confiscations have been highly publicized since the New York Times
quoted New Orleans Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass III, who said,
"Only law
enforcement are allowed to have weapons," and ABC News quoted Deputy Police
Chief Warren Riley stating, "No one will be able to be armed. We are going
to take all the weapons."
For example, a San Francisco, CA camera crew from KTVU filmed one incident
in which visiting California Highway Patrol officers tackled an elderly
woman identified as Patricia Konie, to seize her pistol and forcibly remove
her from her home. An ABC news crew accompanying an Oklahoma National Guard
unit filmed another incident in which homeowners were handcuffed and
disarmed, then released but without their firearms.
"We are delighted to work jointly with the NRA in an effort to bring these
outrageous gun seizures to a halt," said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. "Our
inquiries about these confiscations were cavalierly ignored, as were our
demands for a public explanation from the police and city officials about
why citizens were being unlawfully disarmed, leaving them defenseless
against
lingering bands of looters and thugs.
"New Orleans officials left us with no recourse," Gottlieb observed. "It was
bad enough that Big Easy residents were victims of the worst natural
disaster in the nation's history. That they would be subsequently victimized
by their own local government, taking their personal property without
warrant, is unconscionable. These illegal gun seizures must be stopped,
now."
PS Click here to make a contribution to help fund this lawsuit.
-END-
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