“The People Who Keep You Safe” During Natural Disasters (Katrina)

How did the powers to be keep the law abiding citizens of New Orleans “safe” in the aftermath of Katrina? They illegally confiscated all of the firearms from law abiding citizens leaving them defenseless against looters. Please watch this video.

I find it disturbing that the California Highway patrolmen who traveled to New Orleans to “help out” would beat that elderly woman down to take her unloaded firearm away from her. You can see in the video that she was holding it flat in the palm of her hand in a non threatening manner, and the pistol was unloaded. Their effort would have been better applied to the thugs that were roaming the streets armed, instead of focusing on law abiding citizens.

Now read this:

Katrina made police choose between duty and loved ones

quote:

Schubert is among more than 200 New Orleans officers who have been under investigation by the police department for leaving their posts during the hurricane crisis. Since the fall, the officers have been appearing, one at a time, in often emotional hearings in which many of them have pleaded for their jobs before a review panel at the department's temporary headquarters in a hotel on Bourbon Street.

If you read the article, you will realize that 200+ of “the people who keep you safe” fled the city before the hurricane hit which reduced the number of available law enforcement from the approximately 1400 total, and so the mayors solution was to forcibly disarm law abiding citizens making them potential victims for roving bands of criminals. Here are some of the other allegations of how some officers focused their energy to keep the citizens “safe”. First watch this video.

The read this news release.

New Orleans police may have participated in looting

quote:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans police department said Thursday it is investigating a dozen officers in connection with looting during the lawlessness that engulfed the city after Hurricane Katrina.

The second amendment foundation issued a statement after the New Orleans gun confiscation was made public:

‘NEVER AGAIN,’ SAYS SAF, ONE YEAR AFTER KATRINA SPARKED GUN GRAB

There was another press release by the Second Ammendment Foudation as well calling for the city to pay the cost to replace damaged guns that were illegally confiscated.

The media also reported on it lightly:

Gun seized after Katrina? NRA wants you

The NRA initiated a lawsuit against the city of New Orleans for this illegal action, and won the case, although some were slow to admit it.

NRA to settle suit over Katrina gun seizures

quote:

Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley were defendants in the case, which was scheduled to be tried next month. In their lawsuit, the gun lobbying groups accused the city of violating gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and leaving them "at the mercy of roving gangs, home invaders, and other criminals" after Katrina. In response, the city argued that federal law doesn't apply to the plaintiffs' claims against city officials "because the right to keep and bear arms has never been recognized as a fundamental individual right."

The NRA later released this:

New Orleans Mayor Finally Admits Illegal Gun Confiscation, Settles With NRA

quote:

Friday, October 10, 2008 - After a three-year legal battle over the unconstitutional confiscation of lawfully owned firearms during Hurricane Katrina, this week, the City of New Orleans agreed to settle a lawsuit initiated by NRA. A permanent injunction has been issued against the city, Mayor Ray Nagin, and current Police Chief Warren Riley. The Second Amendment Foundation assisted NRA in the legal battle against Mayor Ray Nagin and the City of New Orleans.

"This is an important victory for the citizens of New Orleans and the Second Amendment," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA's executive vice president. "We fought for three long years in a fundamental legal challenge to assert the inherent self-defense rights for law-abiding citizens, knowing the Constitution would prevail. Today it has prevailed and freedom has won."

Judge Carl J. Barbier presided over the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Judge Barbier signed the permanent injunction against the City of New Orleans. The city admitted the firearm confiscations carried out by Nagin and Riley were unconstitutional and illegal.

Once again, Gun Shy will go on the record stating that I fully support effective law enforcement when done within the definitions prescribed by the U.S. Constitution. Gun Shy also believes that there is no room for "rogue cops" in law enforcement, and when they break their sworn oath to serve and protect, that they should be removed from their position immediately and made an example of publicly as a warning to others who might consider doing similar actions.