Katrina Gun Confiscation

[Vermiform]

my beef is that everyone is so against being disarmed that NO ONE filed a suit over it, despite our overly litigious society and a public outcry over how FEMA, NOPD, and the NG handled Katrina? Give me a break

The way precedent is set is when authorities F up, they get hammered over it in court.

edit to delete bad example

I remember several posts here on the forum that were made that said the NOPD was still doing this a good while after Katrina. I tried searching for them but the search engine is still sideways and won't go back that far. At the time, I remember some of our LEO on the forum denouncing the practice. I remember soon after when I came down for a rifle "build party", I made sure that I had receipts in my wallet for every firearm I carried down with me. I had to leave my XD9 at home because I couldn't find the receipt and borrowed a 38 Smith from my father because he had a receipt for it.

 

[XD-GEM]

I was back at my house less than 2 weeks after Katrina, with my gun on my hip while I cleaned up the place. I never saw any NOPD at my house, but every now and then a military unit from somewhere would pass by and wave. One group from Virginia offered me some water, and an Airborne unit left me some MREs. They never stopped me or questioned me about the gun. I guess they figured that if you were cleaning up debris there wasn't much to get worked up about.

I DID scare off a suspicious-looking slow-moving car in the neighborhood by turning and exposing my gun side to them. They stopped their approach up my street, paused a moment, then turned around and gunned it out of there.

A few years later, after Gustav, I was doing the exact same thing, but a pair of clueless NOPD stopped in front of my house and challenged me about my sidearm. After a brief discussion in which I basically told them they didn't know the laws they were trying to enforce, they left. I called the 4th District to talk to the captain, but he was unavailable. I left a detailed message, but he never called back.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, though, because after that, no NOPD bothered me.

 

[Abby Normal]

Holy Molly! I didn't intend to start a Fireball throwing contest. I just wanted to show yall the video. The Indoor range I shot at in the 80's was Full of NOPD, went to bars owned by NOPD officers. I also seen some NOPD Cr@p before, during & after Katrina. I wasn't dumping on them. But this Did Happen. Eddie Compass, Ray Nagin and later Warren Riley could not have screwed things up any more. Without leadership from the mayor & NOPD, the Relief LEO had to use their own judgment. They most likely reverted to their home gun laws and not the La. gun laws. But in part 2 of the video, it's U.S Marshalls that take the guns. The NRA Did have to Sue to get some of the confiscated guns returned. Nagin & Riley didn't care about anyone's rights. They just wanted kickbacks, and granite for crooked contracts.
Remember, if your best friend (even the Mayor) says it happened with no proof, don't you swear to it. And just because there is no video does not mean it did not happen.

 

[MTregre]

We did some search and rescue and some security after the storm passed, I didn't see any of it either... but there is evidence it happened.

Now while I was home, I also was armed and never got asked any questions. I was also handing out plates of fried shrimp and catfish... the only conversation I had regarding firearms was with a trooper at a NG check point in STCP;

Trooper "Is that a real rifle?"
Me "Of course."
Trooper "Good, be safe."

 

[my-rifle]

^THIS^ was my original point.

NOPD ended up with several hundred guns that the NRA petitioned through legal courses
to have released (IIRC) around 2008.

How they got those guns? Numerous ways.

Kicking down doors of occupied homeowners? ... Not that anyone here can attest to.

....and there is a LOT of members here who were THERE.

So you don't know yet you're insisting it happened?

Wow. Just wow!

 

[my-rifle]

Are you saying that 'Gun Confiscation' without a warrant, while people (were home) didn't happen,
besides the two examples you listed? (To which I'd agree)
or
that 'Gun Confiscation' without a warrant, of peoples firearms
while they were not home didn't happen?

It surely wasn't a rumor that the illegal confiscation indeed did occur.

The City released several hundred firearms that they had confiscated
after the NRA agreed to drop their cases upon the Cities compliance.

...and that's just the firearms that just (New Orleans) specifically cataloged.

I remember reading/seeing on the news about some owners who weren't able to get their own (passed down)firearms back,
b/c they could provide a bill of sale, a receipt or an affidavit with the weapon's serial number,
things that NOPD required in order to claim any gun as yours.
They were also running background checks on whoever came to claim a gun.

So I guess I'd have to know what 'Mass Confiscation' means to you.

Is there a certain number that (is) acceptable or something?

I was also wondering just how many people have you interviewed?
Considering NO population sits around 350,000+

Hitman, you really should have read all of my post before your response. I did say that lots of guns were rounded up. There were teams going through houses that were to be demolished doing exactly that. They did not record who owned what. They did not have the time or manpower to do so. Thousands of guns were collected, and they were dumped in a storage container unmaintained for months before the NOPD who inherited the mess were able to staff up to the point that they could attempt to process the load. Also recall that no one was allowed back in the city for months afterward. By then any hope of connecting the owner to the gun was gone.

People who weren't here simply have no idea of what it was like in the months after the hurricane. There was a pile of debris two stories high, and at least 200 yards by eight to ten blocks long with earth-moving equipment driving around on top of it in Lakeview. I drove through Gentilly and all through the area the houses all had their doors open blowing back and forth in the breeze. There were no birds, because the floodwaters had killed all the bugs. There was no green grass - anywhere. All during that time there were rumors - crazy rumors about sixteen Corps of Engineers contractors shot on the Danziger bridge, Harry Lee shooting 72 looters in front of the Sena Mall. Snipers shooting ambulance drivers outside Charity hospital.

Rumors? You're darn tootin there were crazy rumors. This one just happened to fit neatly into the national right-wing talking points about liberal government gone wild. It got repeated over and over from website to website fed by Fox news heaping rumor upon rumor on the flames, until no one could tell the truth from the rumors anymore.

That is why I ask for first-hand evidence. To date, 8 years after the event I have yet to find even one person who had first-hand experience of these mass gun confiscations.

And Nomad what happened to you was simple theft. Your guns weren't "confiscated".

 

[Nomad.2nd]

And Nomad what happened to you was simple theft. Your guns weren't "confiscated".

I agree. You just made this big thing of "searching all over" and I hadn't heard a bit about it.... (wasn't here then, but jut goes to show what can easily be missed)
Just sayin.

 

[tim9lives]

I will say that I did come back 2 weeks after the storm. Kind of ignored the crap about staying out so that I could get valuables out of my mothers house and my house. I was stopped by NG leaving my house Uptown.

They were absolutely professional and courteous. Check my ID and let me go my way after I told them I was just getting valuables and would be heading back to Houston that night.

I then went to my mothers house at the Lakefront. I had to stop at a NG check point on Wisner Blvd. Same sort off thing. They checked my ID to make sure I was not a looter and let me on my way. They saw my rifles and did not give me a hard time AT ALL.

They were professional and friendly.

FWIW...New Orleans was an absolute cl**ter F**k after Katrina with roving thugs and overwhelmed police IMO. The NG was a Godsend IMO. They were a welcomed sight in the months after the storm. ZERO crime....But then again....part of that is because Houston had opened the "welcome mat."

Even Houston was shocked when they saw what they ended up dealing with.

 

[Hitman]

So you don't know yet you're insisting it happened?
!

What did I imply, that I don't know?

-Hitman, you really should have read all of my post before your response.

-I did say that lots of guns were rounded up.

I did....a few times....

Actually...you didn't, hence my inquiry to your statements made

My questions weren't meant to be rhetorical,
I too was wondering how you missed the simple fact
that guns were indeed collected(If you will).

You actually said the opposite. (Highlighted in red.)

Look again;

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. After Katrina I did two things that are relevant to this subject. The first is that after I heard the story I went all over the city (I'd quit my job to research this.) asking peple about it. No one had experienced this "gun-grab" that I could find in the three months I searched. Since then I have never found a soul who claimed to have experinced it beyond the woman in the video and a couple dudes who said they were boating across Lake Pontchartrain when they were intercepted and all their guns confiscated. Bothe groups pf people are extremely political and both produced youtube videos. Frankly the heavily edited videos made me suspicious.

Afterward I worked for eight years for the Corps of Engineers talking to numerous officials AND citizens about their experiences during the aftermath and none could corroborate the "mass confiscations". This makes me wonder: Did the various police departments conspire among hundreds if not thousands of members to conceal the brutal truth? Or perhaps was this a rumor blown up to internet proportions? I suspect the latter given the complete lack of corroborating evidence.

As someone who was actually THERE during the immediate aftermath I can testify that aside from the teams who searched condemned buildings for firearms prior to their demolitions I have heard zero testimonials that corroborate the point of view given by the dude in the video. When I started I was looking for proof of their veracity. What I realized after years of research was that it probably didn't happen. I continue to have an open mind though. If you know anyone who had their guns confiscated from their home, please let me know. My investigation continues.

I don't/didn't see anywhere in there where you said;
"lots of guns were rounded up".


That is why i asked the 3 questions I did,
B/c I didn't see the answer in your first post.

----------

• Are you saying that 'Gun Confiscation' without a warrant, while people (were home) didn't happen,
  besides the two examples you listed? (To which I'd agree)
  or
  that 'Gun Confiscation' without a warrant, of peoples firearms
  while they were not home didn't happen?
  
  
• So I guess I'd have to know what 'Mass Confiscation' means to you.
  Is there a certain number that (is) acceptable or something?
  
  
• I was also wondering just how many people have you interviewed?

----------

Nothing personal man, was just asking about your investigation.

 

[Emperor]

Despite all the conjecture and rhetoric about this incident, one glaring point remains for all keepers and enforcers of order, justice, and laws:

Don't disarm me if I am not breaking the law!

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I will say that I did come back 2 weeks after the storm. Kind of ignored the crap about staying out so that I could get valuables out of my mothers house and my house. I was stopped by NG leaving my house Uptown.

They were absolutely professional and courteous. Check my ID and let me go my way after I told them I was just getting valuables and would be heading back to Houston that night.

I then went to my mothers house at the Lakefront. I had to stop at a NG check point on Wisner Blvd. Same sort off thing. They checked my ID to make sure I was not a looter and let me on my way. They saw my rifles and did not give me a hard time AT ALL.

They were professional and friendly.

FWIW...New Orleans was an absolute cl**ter F**k after Katrina with roving thugs and overwhelmed police IMO. The NG was a Godsend IMO. They were a welcomed sight in the months after the storm. ZERO crime....But then again....part of that is because Houston had opened the "welcome mat."

Even Houston was shocked when they saw what they ended up dealing with.

I thought you were a convicted felon?

 

[Emperor]

I thought you were a convicted felon?

Yikes!

 

[dixiejarhead]

I was there the entire time from Aug 30th on. Never saw anyone get disarmed that was not already breaking the law. The only video I have seen was from some NY or NJ cops that came down to "help" disarming some lady because they had no clue about gun rights in the south. Just my perspective.

 

[JR1572]

Katrina Gun Coniscation

I was there the entire time from Aug 30th on. Never saw anyone get disarmed that was not already breaking the law. The only video I have seen was from some NY or NJ cops that came down to "help" disarming some lady because they had no clue about gun rights in the south. Just my perspective.

I was there the whole time also. I didn't see anything like that happen.

One thing I noticed in this thread, there are a few people talking about things that they know nothing about.

JR1572

 

[my-rifle]

I will say that I did come back 2 weeks after the storm. Kind of ignored the crap about staying out so that I could get valuables out of my mothers house and my house. I was stopped by NG leaving my house Uptown.

They were absolutely professional and courteous. Check my ID and let me go my way after I told them I was just getting valuables and would be heading back to Houston that night.

I then went to my mothers house at the Lakefront. I had to stop at a NG check point on Wisner Blvd. Same sort off thing. They checked my ID to make sure I was not a looter and let me on my way. They saw my rifles and did not give me a hard time AT ALL.

They were professional and friendly.

FWIW...New Orleans was an absolute cl**ter F**k after Katrina with roving thugs and overwhelmed police IMO. The NG was a Godsend IMO. They were a welcomed sight in the months after the storm. ZERO crime....But then again....part of that is because Houston had opened the "welcome mat."

Even Houston was shocked when they saw what they ended up dealing with.

Given that Houston has been taking New Orleans' college graduates for the last 20 years, maybe it's just about right that they take the ones that didn't graduate too.

 

[Leonidas]

Zing!

 

[my-rifle]

There is a news clip of a reporter interviewing an army colonel at the staging sight (on the lake side of levee in Bucktown), for the giant sandbags being airlifted to seal the breach at the 17th Street Canal. In that interview he was asked directly about NG units from out of state confiscating firearms from law abiding citizens. He does not deny it was happening, and emphasized that no one in his command was ever ordered to do that; and when pressed with the issue of Unconstitutionality he did say that a soldier in the US armed forces (including reserves), can refuse ANY order that he/she believes is Unconstitutional. That was the first time I had EVER heard that.

It may take some effort, but there are numerous news clips out there somewhere about the illegal confiscations throughout the aftermath.

I'd like to know who that colonel was, because chances are that if he was standing on the levee where the sandbags were being places, I know him. To have been allowed in that location he'd have to have been USACE (Corps of Engineers), and I worked with all those dudes. If you can find the story/clip I'd love to see it.

Odds are though if he was USACE he had nothing to do with any keeping of the peace/massive uncontitutional civil rights violations that happened. He would have been there only to fix the flood control system.

 

[my-rifle]

I was there the whole time also. I didn't see anything like that happen.

One thing I noticed in this thread, there are a few people talking about things that they know nothing about.

JR1572

One thing I noticed is that everyone who was actually THERE didn't see any of the mass confiscations of guns from citizens that has been claimed. Curious that everyone who WASN'T there actually knows more than those who WERE there.

 

[madwabbit]

One thing I noticed is that everyone who was actually THERE didn't see any of the mass confiscations of guns from citizens that has been claimed. Curious that everyone who WASN'T there actually knows more than those who WERE there.

pretty much all of my posts summarized perfectly. +1

 

[Abby Normal]

To Mr. Dixiejarhead & Mr. JR1572, and all of the others that went into NOLa in her darkest days since 1815, Thank You.