Katrina “Gun Confiscation” – My Experience

thebangswitch.com ^ | 13 June, 2013 | Brannon LeBouef

[marktwain]

Submitted by Brannon LeBouef

Executive Summary:

Yes, some guns were confiscated in New Orleans, LA (NOLA) following hurricane Katrina, but it was nowhere near as widespread as some would have you believe. They were isolated incidents and the majority of those were done by out of town LEO and MIL.

What you are about to read are my personal experiences and recollection of events as I saw them. While not all-inclusive, I think they lend a fiar account of what really happened on the ground.

Realities:

While it has been nearly 8 years since the events of Hurricane Katrina, which in my opinion currently serves as the closest controlled experiment of a SHTF scenario in this country that we have on record in recent times, many of the incidents or perceived incidents that occurred during that time are still being discussed. I was there, at least for the worst of it. Allow me to set the record straight on a few things….

1. There were NOT sharks swimming down Canal St.
2. There were bodies floating in the streets and abandoned on the roadways.
3. There were people taking pot shots with rifles at rescue helicopters and patrolling law enforcement.
4. There were NOT hundreds of people being killed and raped in the Superdome, convention center, or elsewhere, including infants and elderly alleged victims.
5. There were people setting fire to malls and then shooting at the responding firemen.
6. There were people shooting at the electrical lineman on the poles as they attempted to restore power.

7. There were NOT Blackwater mercenaries patrolling the streets. They were there, but they were primarily at static posts guarding private business and governmental shelters and camps. They were security guards.
8. There was looting of all kinds, by all kinds of people to include the police in very limited instances.

[marktwain]

Interesting first hand account from someone who was intimately involved with New Orleans and Katrina. It is much longer, with more pictures, than the excerpt.

[Rusty0604]

Maybe it wasn’t widespread, but I remember seeing on the news an elderly woman being disarmed in her own home and another guy having his antique weapons he had inherited confiscated and not getting them back. It was wrong even if they didn’t get to all the law abiding citizens.

[marktwain]

You are absolutely correct. In the longer term, outrage over these abuses sparked passage of numerous laws clarifying that those actions are unlawful.

[T-Bird45]

I just posted the following reply to the author:

Two questions for the author who may/may not have info to share:

1) Do you have details or specifics on the actions of the California Highway Patrol as regards confiscation? There seems to be significant info on the CHP being a primary actor in confiscations.

2) If this was as minimal as you present in your firsthand viewpoint, please explain the successful NRA court action to get nearly 1000 firearms restored to the owners by NOPD.

If I get a response, I'll try to remember to post it back here.

[thorvaldr]

In May 06, the city of New Orleans ended up admitting to having 1000 confiscated guns in their possession. Sounds like widespread and done by the city to me. And why would anyone claim that having your gun confiscated by an American soldier who should know better, as opposed to some city thug, is OK. The confiscation was widespread, was not limited to the military, was not constitutional, was not OK.

[thorvaldr]

In May 06 the city of New Orleans admitted to having about 1000 seized guns. That is widespread.

[Gaffer]

My question is “Why does this revelation come years after the fact.”

Secondly, I find that the author is now a purveyor of security and such in the realm akin to that produced by Katrina’s aftermath makes me very suspicious.

Pushing the gun-taking off on a bunch of out of state LEOs and unprepared military seems to me a cop out. If anything, I’d think the totally corrupt NOLEO corps was responsible for what was reported.

Sorry, just a little bit incredulous here. Saying ‘Marine’ just doesn’t get it for me at this point.

[T-Bird45]

I got a quick reply from the author to my questions:

1) I do not remember them (CHP) specifically. Remember, I witnessed NON-confiscations, not actual confiscations.

2) 1000 firearms does not equal 1000 people violated. Hell, if it were me, I would account for 10%-20% of that number. LOL

Seriously though, obviously some of that is multiple firearms from multiple people. Also I think we had around 400k-500k people in the general NOLA area, so let’s just say 250-500 people, in the grand scheme of things, that is not a lot. One is too many, but less than .02% is not “widespread”.

I witnessed, and personally participated, in many encounters with armed people where the firearm was never discussed.

I also think some of those firearms were taken, or relinquished, when people got on the transit buses out of the city.

We can chase that cat tail if you want, but when they had to rely on the government to get them out because they failed to evacuate (elderly and handicapped aside), then they kinda put themselves at the mercy of the rules at that time. If you are not paying attention, run out of gas, and I offer you a ride, then I kind of get to pick what is on the radio station.

It is not like all, or even most IMO opinion, of the guns that were taken, were confiscated by force. Many were left when people boarded buses out of the city.

Something to think about.

[gaijin]

The cops needlessly intimidated and committed battery against a perfectly law-abiding old woman who held in her hand a revolver, and the barrel was turned around in a very deliberate manner to demonstrate that she harbored no desire to threaten any LEO or hired thugs.

ON CAMERA they rushed her, wrenched her arm and slammed her to the ground.

They were mean and unprofessional. The only positive thing I can say about her experience was that none of them harmed her 3 dogs.

They also approached law-abiding people traveling in boats and robbed them of their self-defense guns.

Again for no reason.

I would absolutely count on LEOs doing that again in the future —the bureaucratic need to CONTROL is strong, and in a disaster recently that impulse appears to jump up 2 or 3 pegs.

They want to appear that they’re DOING SOMETHING, and visibly controlling those who are receptive to order and to authority is EASY.

So they do that a whole lot.

[Kartographer]

Preppers’ PIN!!!

GOOD READ!!

[Age of Reason]

I don’t believe half of that list.

[Kartographer]

They also approached law-abiding people traveling in boats and robbed them of their self-defense guns.

Again for no reason.

I would absolutely count on LEOs doing that again in the future —the bureaucratic need to CONTROL is strong, and in a disaster recently that impulse appears to jump up 2 or 3 pegs.

[Age of Reason]

4.There were NOT hundreds of people being killed and raped

Whoever said there were hundreds? Why don't you tell us how many actually were?

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

3.There were people taking pot shots with rifles at rescue helicopters and patrolling law enforcement.

---

I spoke with people from my base who went TDY in support of the rescue efforts. They claimed that some of the helicopters were fired upon. I can’t prove nor disprove it, all I have is someone else’s claim.

[Georgia Girl 2]

So true. Not to mention the videos of the police going house to house in an affluent neighborhood taking all of their guns.

[Kartographer]

So let’s say only half is true, would it still be a situation you would want to be tangled up in?

[chuckles]

The problem I have with Law enforcement is that can't seem to "profile" correctly. The "1000" confiscated guns are just a statistic that tells us nothing.

As a hypothetical, lets consider the police officer that witnesses a shooter shooting a helicopter or fireman fighting a fire. The confiscated gun would be picked up off his bullet riddled corpse that would have saved a trial in an emergency situation.

OTOH, the officer knocking on doors and searching without a search warrant, how many confiscated guns are in that profile? If people were actually shooting looters, how many of those were disarmed? The YouTube video's show the worst violations for sure, but I would bet their was just as many "gang bangers" getting even in the hood that were disarmed.

It is important to pass laws that do protect law abiding gun owners in a crisis, but what's more important is to investigate who ordered the cops to confiscate guns door to door and make sure they never hold public office again.

[CodeToad]

So how many were raped or killed in the dome?

If there were helicopters shot at can we see the photographs of the bullet holes in the chopper?

If Blackwater wasn’t there, then the author can give us an explanation of those images of Blackwater walking armed down the streets.

[marktwain]

So how many were raped or killed in the dome?

The author does not say, but my reccollection is that there were no rapes or murders in the dome, just media hype.

If there were helicopters shot at can we see the photographs of the bullet holes in the chopper?

Helicopters being shot at does not necessarily translate into helicopters being hit, especialy if the helicopter were flying some distance away. It is notoriously hard to hit moving aircraft with rifles, even with machine guns.

From family experience, I can believe this to be possible. Long ago, my brother was out roaming the fields with an inner-city youth that had been invited to our home in the country from an urban "work camp" nearby. The youth was in his middle teens as I recall. My brother was showing him a .22 rifle and the youth was handling it when a light plane appeared overhead (we were about five miles from the local airport). My brother was horrified as the youth casually pointed the rifle at the plane and fired it! It was far enough away that the .22 would never have reached it, but the casual disregard for basic safety rules and human life was quite a revelation to us.

If Blackwater wasn’t there, then the author can give us an explanation of those images of Blackwater walking armed down the streets.

The author states that Blackwater was there, but their role was that of security guards for fixed locations.

[Old Sarge]

Let's look at this list:

There were NOT sharks swimming down Canal St. Okay...

There were bodies floating in the streets and abandoned on the roadways. Believable...

There were people taking pot shots with rifles at rescue helicopters and patrolling law enforcement. Heard enough reports to call it true...

There were NOT hundreds of people being killed and raped in the Superdome, convention center, or elsewhere, including infants and elderly alleged victims. Never heard a real casualty list...

There were people setting fire to malls and then shooting at the responding firemen. Believable...

There were people shooting at the electrical lineman on the poles as they attempted to restore power. Believable...

There were NOT Blackwater mercenaries patrolling the streets. They were there, but they were primarily at static posts guarding private business and governmental shelters and camps. They were security guards. CROCK! There was video and still footage that belies this...

There was looting of all kinds, by all kinds of people to include the police in very limited instances. Cops looted more often than Boudreaux here wants us to believe...

There were NOT people eating each other. Believable...

There was SEVERE ineptness and failure on the part of all levels of government as it relates to the response. A winner every time...

Officer Friendly here is biased, trying to CYA for his boyfriends on The Thin Blue Line. Some of the commenters called him on it, and he got naturally defensive.

Bottom Line: all this grand talk of "Oathkeepers, Oathkeepers" is a bunch of hooey. They WILL go rogue, they WILL fire on citizens, and they WILL obey orders from the White Hut.