Posted on 07/04/2009 4:39:41 AM PDT by marktwain
The ACLU, not exactly known for being sympathetic to the right to keep and bear arms, is going to bat for a New Orleans man who had his gun confiscated. From the Associated Press:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed the federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Errol Houston Jr., who was arrested last year following a traffic stop. The lawsuit says the district attorney's office declined to prosecute Houston but has refused to return his .40-caliber firearm.
Why? After all:
"Mr. Houston has done nothing wrong. There are no criminal charges against him. His firearm, which he is and was entitled to carry, has been confiscated for no reason..."
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is not pleased:
Cannizzaro said he doesn't know why one of his predecessors refused to prosecute Houston, whom he said had a gun under the floor board of his car when police stopped him.
"I have a serious question as to why this charge was refused in the first place," he said.
With all due respect, Mr. DA, and it appears very little is due, that's not your call. As an officer of the court, sworn to uphold the law, you don't get to disregard it, or to make up edicts of your own.
This is the kind of authoritarian mentality that leads to "terror watch list" gun bans, to prior restraints, and to "no rights" lists where suspicion trumps all.
This is supposed to be America, Mr. Cannizzaro. If Mr. Houston is a menace to society, he needs to be charged, convicted and segregated from it. If you can't do that, our criminal justice system presumes his innocence.
Perhaps we ought to be assessing the danger of having a DA who ignores that, and who presumes to be a law unto himself.
We continue losing our country, one step at a time; one unchallenged affront to liberty at a time; one stupid LibTard at a time.
It’s time for this to stop. We must take back the country.
How do we fight such rogues? Could they be sued into oblivion? Maybe be made to defend themselves repeatedly on ethics charges perhaps? Perhaps fighting a few lawsuits, even if they are not related to the gun issue, and especially if the cost of defending them ruins them financially, might send a message that our 2nd Amendment rights are sacrosanct.
Cannizzaro said ... Houston, whom he said had a gun under the floor board of his car when police stopped him. ... "I have a serious question as to why this charge was refused in the first place," he said.I have a serious question too?
Plus that would ruin the gun. Dirt, dust, fumes, Road Kill, etc. would be all over it. 
Don’t you suppose he meant “under the floor MATS” of his car? who even says floor boards anymore.
Don’t you suppose he meant “under the floor MATS” of his car? who even says floor boards anymore.I dunno?
And yes, what's a 'floor board'?
(I guess down 'that a way', the newest car, not up on cinder blocks, is a 62 Chevy? (or Ford pickup)
Damn those officials in New Orleans...
New Orleans already lost a major lawsuit thanks to the NRA -(I sent in a donation to them in gratitude) for their illegal confiscation of guns after Katrina and now they are doing it again.
This is an example of what the Federal government would try if they thought they could get away with it. It is on full display in New Orleans.
I just e-mailed the link to the NRA-ILA.
OK then if he said “under the floor boards” it would mean on the underside of the car. I doubt if that is where he found the gun.
Where is the governor to defend his people’s rights?
I think it is a reference to something from way back even before ‘62. I was 22 in ‘62 and I can remember my dad referring to the “floor boards”. I should have asked him what he meant. Maybe something from the horse and buggy days.'Floor Boards' aren't *that old* (I was being a tad facetious before). They were before uni-body construction. When a Car had an actual steel frame and everything was bolted on. Like the Body Shell, Fenders, Rear Rear Quarter Panels, etc.
Back in the early 60's a buddy had a 53 Chevy and the 'floor boards' were rusted completely through. We removed the front seat and he had 1/4" steel plates spot welded over both sides of 'the hump' to cover the holes. We then sealed around the plate, to the 'floor boards' with 'Bondo'.
In the 'olden days', many cars were said to be held together with "Chicken Wire & Bondo'. There WAS some truth to that.
Henry ford was good at cutting costs when building model A cars and trucks he ordered the bolts to be delivered in a box of a set size and of a type of wood.
The boxes were took apart and then used to make the area where your feet were hence floor boards.
I was a little quick with that reply, we still don’t know where they found the gun. I am going with my original thought, under the floor mats.
The City of New Orleans is a Hell Hole. Always has been, always will be. I used to live not very far away, but hardly visited even then.
Almost every time I went there, something bad happened to me or the people I was with.
A good cabinet maker or carpenter can make a concealed storage area very easily, especially if you’re renovating to begin with.
The problem today is too many reporters do not have a real good command of the english language
If a city law can override a duly passed and signed state law, the state lawmaking body is powerless to enforce the will of the people who the members represent. I'm no lawyer, but I have always thought that a federal judge could only throw out a state law if it conflicts with federal law or violates the US Constitution. Federal law doesn't allow carry in the restricted areas of the airport and neither does the new state law, however the GA law allowing carry in unrestricted areas such as the airport lobby and parking areas doesn't violate any federal law and is not unconstitutional in any respect. How then can a federal judge invalidate a duly enacted GA law that does not conflict in any respect with either the GA or federal Constitution or with any federal law?
If I had enough money to do it and still pay my bills I would take it upon myself to hire a few lawyers and appeal the federal judge's ruling to a higher federal court. But it seems that neither the GA Assembly nor the state CCW association has any desire to take on the obviously biased federal judge in a higher court and I wonder why that is. Another question that often comes to my mind is, where is the NRA and it's battery of lawyers when they're really needed? The latest fund raising gimmicks are the only things I ever get from NRA, yet my right to be armed at an area where violent crime is an almost nightly occurrence (Atlanta airport parking lots) is denied by a corrupt city administration and a biased judge while AFAIK absolutely nothing, nada, zilch, is being done to correct the situation by anyone who is supposed to be on my side of the issue.
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