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.

[CodeToad]

“Helicopters being shot at does not necessarily translate into helicopters being hit, especialy if the helicopter were flying some distance away.”

Then how do they know they were shot at? I highly doubt civilians were using tracers.

[bgill]

How many confiscated guns didn’t make it into the NOPD evidence room? Boston very nearly became NO in that respect.

[B4Ranch]

For whatever reason too many FReepers will not go to the source website and read the full article, so I took the liberty of posting this piece for their benefit.

>>I can tell you unequivocally that the OVERWELMING number of police officers will not take firearms from US citizens. Period.

Most of them are smart enough to know that they are a citizen first and if it can happen to “them”, it can happen to “THEM” too. Also, we are seeing an uptick in the number of prior military service LEO’s and they actually take the constitution very seriously.

There will ALWAYS be those who will just “follow orders”, but widespread firearms confiscation will never happen. Even if we were to ignore the Constitutional elements of this argument, Paul Howe put it best based on the logical argument. Cops will not roll into a house KNOWN to have guns, simply to take them. Their lives and their families are more important than that.

Now, you give them an actual bona-fide bad guy, one they know is bad based on their own morals, and they will run through a hail of bullets to take him off the street. However, you ask us to go next door and take them from our hunting buddies and brother-in-laws… well, you just unified the largest and best armed group of individuals against the government.

If it is ever attempted in this country in a true large-scale confiscation, some cops will die. There will be an initial rise in violence and then it will settle as everyone figure out the rules. Cops will realize, like many are about the “Drug war”, that it simply is not worth it – in lives, money, or erosion of rights.<<

[B4Ranch]

>>Then how do they know they were shot at? I highly doubt civilians were using tracers.<<

You’ve never been on the hot end of a rifle have you. Muzzle flash looks entirely different when it is aim at you.

[Old Sarge]

For whatever reason too many FReepers will not go to the source website and read the full article

Ah, but you see, I did.

[CodeToad]

I have, and enough to know you won’t see it much at during the day time. I am also a pilot.

[B4Ranch]

Did the article also say the choppers were only fired on during the daylight hours? I’m also a pilot, so what?

[marktwain]

Then how do they know they were shot at?

Could have been watching people on the ground, seen recoil/muzzle flash. If no hits, obviously not provable.

Could have been reports from people on the ground who saw it, as my brother did.

[CodeToad]

So the “snipers” waited until dark? Really? How far is this story of yours going to go? If you were a pilot, and I have no reason to doubt it, then you know very well that little flashes won’t be seen so well, and if the aircraft were close enough to see them then they would have some holes.

I think the entire BS story was concocted by drama queens looking for action and used to confiscate weapons.

[CodeToad]

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Big deal. Show some holes.

[marktwain]

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Big deal. Show some holes.

You do not have to believe it.

I find it credible. It only had to have happened once for it to be true. I find it hard to believe that it did not happen, in NOLA.

The vast majority of small arms rounds fired at aircraft, miss.

[B4Ranch]

As you well know, people on the ground rarely lead when shooting at aircraft. They have nothing to gauge how fast the plane or chopper is moving. They aim at the chopper never thinking the forward movement will cause them to miss. Also they rarely use measuring equipment to verify the distance of their target. Without using tracers it’s damn near impossible to hit an aircraft that’s more than 1000 feet away from you.

I have no difficulty understanding why the birds took so few hits.

[Age of Reason]

The half of the list I don’t believe, is the half that makes it seem less bad then it was.

So no need to ask me if I’d like to have been there.

[riverrunner]

I talked with a Louisiana state trooper who was there.

He said that Black Water guards were there and were guarding fix locations. He didn't see them patrolling except around the building they were guarding.

[Bitsy]

My son’s friend has a gun shop and shooting range and they came in and confiscated every gun he had in his shop. Maybe they were trying to cut back on the looting but it was scary and big brother like.