New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms as Water Recedes

Ny Times ^ | September 8 | ALEX BERENSON and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

[RDTF]

Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.

No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns, or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

But that order apparently does not apply to the hundreds of security guards whom businesses and some wealthy individuals have hired to protect their property. The guards, who are civilians working for private security firms like Blackwater, are openly carrying M-16's and other assault rifles. Mr. Compass said he was aware of the private guards, but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.

Nearly two weeks after the floods began, New Orleans has turned into an armed camp, patrolled by thousands of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, as well as National Guard troops and active-duty soldiers. While armed looters roamed unchecked last week, the city is now calm. No arrests were made on Wednesday night or this morning, and police received only 10 calls for service, a police spokesman said.

The city's slow recovery is continuing on other fronts as well, local officials said at a press conference late this morning. Pumping stations are now operating across much of the city, and many taps and fire hydrants have water pressure. Also, tests have shown no evidence of cholera or other dangerous diseases in flooded areas, though health officials have said the waters contain levels of E. coli bacteria and lead 10 times higher than what is considered safe.

Efforts to recover corpses have also started, although only a handful of bodies have been recovered so far.

[diogenes ghost]

Lawbreakers?? It is NOT illegal to ignore a mandatory evacuation order. So what damned law have they broken?

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Thank you for your patriotism. Somebody taught you very well.
For some of the others, wir sagen es tut mir leid. Schade. Ihren schutzpapieren, vorsicht.

[Oztrich Boy]

if they are well provisioned and can take care of themselves

And how would the officer at the door know this?

He could ask them.

[herewego]

Great tagline! I gotta share one now-
I love cajun food but never saw a recipie that called for a ipod or large screen t.v.

[PoorMuttly]

So...suddenly, here in America, all those folks who sneered at gun registration are having their day...as the only ones actually armed for exclusively SELF defense, not any sort of anti-social crime or offense.

Who would YOU rather be...a dead body in the street...waiting for the van...or rats, or alligators..or Jeraldo...or....

...have a nice day.

I am not even condoining "illegal" firearms....just the posession of credible mechanical means of self defense, including martial arts training. If shotguns and rifles are available...even black powder arms...which worked well enough to get YOUR ass born here, BTW....then, that too. Invasion can come from within, you know. Death is death, and even the wrongfully murdered get stuck in the dirt along with the men on the white horses....and the wretch who raped and murdered too. Same dirt, perhaps same day.

Maybe same pit too.

It happens.

[King Prout]

Translates,
thanks for the heads-up. next time, just post a reply to the originator and insert my UserID in the "to" box ;)

Travis, Eak, RKBAD, Squantos -
seen this yet? take your meds before reading.

[freepatriot32]

im sure all of you guys have been pinged to this story by now but im so pissed off i cant even begin to read through 400 posts to be sure.I mean how long have all of us been talking about registration is the first step towards confiscation and all the fr bushbots shouted us down. "NO that will nbever happen george bush is the new jesus he has an r next to his name there fore he is a conservative and will never allow americans 2cd 4th and 5th amendment rights to be violated he swore an oath after all".Maybe this will wake up some of the fr bots but i really doubt it.Most revel in and brag about being ignorant of history becasue they desperatly want to repeat it.

[herewego]

wth?

[PoorMuttly]

Yes, they did. You are correct. The Law did know about it, and when the belligerent got out of hand, threats and all...they "took steps."

The O.K. Corral.

I have no problem with this. It worked for us once....

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you for your kind words.

I DID say I wasn't sure about the declaration of martial law, in my first post on the subject. I saw maybe two references to that here on FR, and both were off-brand sources. That's why I said, "if" that was confirmed.

Heck, things in New Orleans are such a FUBAR right now that I don't know 1) IF anyone is seizing guns (other than shooters who are firing them in public)?, 2) If so, WHO is doing it? That isn't clear, either, and 3) WHAT AUTHORITY does whoever's doing it, claim for his/her actions.

In that sort of situation, even if I was there and authorized by a client to act, who would I sue, for what, and on what basis, and in what court? And that's without considering the high probability that any judge would say to himself, "I can't control this. I'll chuck the case now, and let that cigar-chomping Guard General straighten it all out. If somebody has a legal issue to b*tch about, let 'em come back and file a new suit when all the dust has settled."

There are a number of situations in this life when the presence of more lawyers means that the situation can only get worse. I'm fairly certain that this is one of them, even if that lawyer is me, and a busload of other lawyers who are also legal conservatives.

Plus there is the fact that no one has suggested in any way that they want me to stick my nose into this. Without a client to represent I AM "a potted plant," to borrow a phrase. LOL.

John

[Travis McGee]

Thanks for the bump! Amazing!

[Congressman Billybob]

Until the Supreme Court acts differently on the 2nd Amendment, gun permits will remain legal in many jurisdictions, including Western Carolina where I live. That's for pistols. Long guns are still free as a bird. It varies by jurisdiction.

Of course, gun ownership has nothing to do with the current legality of guns in any jurisdiction. D.C. forbids law-abiding citizens from owning guns. Yet any teenager in any school can buy any weapon he wants for cash, within a couple blocks of his school.

And yes, I am well aware of John Lott's excellent work in showing that the ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens makes the crime rate go DOWN, not UP. I didn't discuss that subject because this is not a "gun control" thread. I try not to hijack threads away from their intended purpose.

John / Billybob

[Oztrich Boy]

LEOs are civilians.

Very droll. I wouldn't try to tell an LEO that

http://www.policecatalog.com/books/

1050 - Tactics For Criminal Patrol $39.95
Not for sale to civilians. Copy of department ID must be provided for purchase.

71049 - The Tactical Edge: Surviving High Risk Patrol $39.95
Not for sale to civilians. Copy of department ID must be provided for purchase.

71048 - Street Survival: Tactics For Armed Encounters $31.95
Not for sale to civilians. Copy of department ID must be provided for purchase.

[Travis McGee]

This news is blowing me away.

[VeniVidiVici]

Man, all this will do is drive private prices up.

I don't know how the Democrats can lie their way out of this one to the folks in Louisiana.

[herewego]

The whole point is that no one will learn from the past.
Freedom control, or victim disarmament both the same- will never work.
Two hundred year old laws stating clearly in the afirmitive haven't worked and apparently never will.
Free men in a truly free country spent more than 25 years perfecting a Constitution to preserve freedom and did so, adding ten ammendments to make it nearly perfect.
In less than fourty years , the enemy has made the whole thing
unsound and due to revision under sworn enimies of the same document.
Between ruth buzzi ginsberg and the u.n. we need to step up and see that our kids can say the terms "Under God"
Without the threats we face today or worse.
In ten years it may be the heavily armed ACLU Troops deflagging the capitals in your state.

[B Knotts]

I don't deny that many LEOs have tried to give the impression that they are not.

Once called up, National Guard are not civilians. But LEOs are.

[B4Ranch]

CONSTITUTION
OF THE
STATE OF LOUISIANA


PREAMBLE

We, the people of Louisiana, grateful to Almighty God for
the civil, political, economic, and religious liberties we
enjoy, and desiring to protect individual rights to life,
liberty, and property; afford opportunity for the fullest
development of the individual; assure equality of rights;
promote the health, safety, education, and welfare of the
people; maintain a representative and orderly government;
ensure domestic tranquility; provide for the common defense;
and secure the blessings of freedom and justice to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitu-
tion.


ARTICLE I

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

Sec. 1. All government, of right, originates with the people, is
founded on their will alone, and is instituted to protect
the rights of the individual and for the good of the whole.
Its only legitimate ends are to secure justice for all, pre-
serve peace, protect the rights, and promote the happiness
and general welfare of the people. The rights enumerated in
this Article are inalienable by the state and shall be pre-
served inviolate by the state.

Sec. 2. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
except by due process of law.

Sec. 3. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.
No law shall discriminate against a person because of race
or religious ideas, beliefs, or affiliations. No law shall
arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably discriminate
against a person because of birth, age, sex, culture, phys-
ical condition, or political ideas or affiliations. Slavery
and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the
latter case as punishment for crime.

Sec. 4. Every person has the right to acquire, own, control, use,
enjoy, protect, and dispose of private property. The right
is subject to reasonable statutory restrictions and the
reasonable exercise of the police power.

Property shall not be taken or damaged by the state or its
political subdivisions except for public purposes and with
just compensation paid to the owner or into court for his
benefit. Property shall not be taken or damaged by any pri-
vate entity authorized by law to expropriate, except for a
public and necessary purpose and with just compensation paid
to the owner; in such proceedings, whether the purpose is
public and necessary shall be a judicial question. In every
expropriation, a party has a right to trial by jury to de-
termine compensation, and the owner shall be compensated to
the full extent of his loss. No business enterprise or any
of its assets shall be taken for the purpose of operating
that enterprise or halting competition with a government
enterprise. However, a municipality may expropriate a util-
ity within its jurisdiction. Personal effects, other than
contraband, shall never be taken.

This Section shall not apply to appropriation of property
necessary for levee and levee drainage purposes.

Sec. 5. Every person shall be secure in his person, property, com-
munications, houses, papers, and effects against unreason-
able searches, seizures, or invasions of property. No war-
rant shall issue without probable cause supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, the persons or things to be seized, and the lawful
purpose or reason for the search. Any person adversely af-
fected by a search or seizure conducted in violation of this
Sec. shall have standing to raise its illegality in the
appropriate court.

Sec. 6. No person shall be quartered in any house without the con-
sent of the owner or lawful occupant.

Sec. 7. No law shall curtail or restrain the freedom of speech or of
the press. Every person may speak, write, and publish his
sentiments on any subject, but is responsible for the abuse
of that freedom.

Sec. 8. No law shall be enacted respecting an establishment of reli-
gion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Sec. 9. No law shall impair the right of any person to assemble
peaceably or to petition government for a redress of griev-
ances.

Sec. 10. Every citizen of the state, upon reaching the age of (18)
eighteen years of age, shall have the right to register and
vote, except that this right may be suspended while a person
is interdicted and judicially declared mentally incompetent
or is under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a
felony.

Sec. 11. The right of each citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be
abridged, but this provision shall not prevent the passage
of laws to prohibit the carrying of weapons concealed on the
person.

Sec. 12. In access to public areas, accommodations, and facilities,
every person shall be free from discrimination based upon
race, religion, or national ancestry and from arbitrary,
capricious, or unreasonable discrimination based on age,
sex, or physical condition.

Sec. 13. When any person has been arrested or detained in connection
with the investigation or commission of any offense, he
shall be advised fully of the reason for his arrest or de-
tention, his right to remain silent, his right against self
incrimination, his right to the assistance of counsel and,
if indigent, his right to court appointed counsel. In a
criminal prosecution, an accused shall be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation against him. At each
stage of the proceedings, every person is entitled to as-
sistance of counsel of his choice, or appointed by the court
if he is indigent and charged with an offense punishable by
imprisonment. The legislature shall provide for a uniform
system for securing and compensating qualified counsel for
indigents.

Sec. 14. The right to a preliminary examination shall not be denied
in felony cases except when the accused is indicted by a
grand jury.

Sec. 15. Prosecution of a felony shall be initiated by indictment or
information, but no person shall be held to answer for a
capital crime or a crime punishable by life imprisonment
except on indictment by a grand jury. No person shall be
twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense, except on his
application for a new trial, when a mistrial is declared, or
when a motion in arrest of judgement is sustained.

Sec. 16. Every person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until
proven guilty and is entitled to a speedy, public, and im-
partial trial in the parish where the offense or an element
of the offense occurred, unless venue is changed in accord-
ance with law. No person shall be compelled to give evi-
dence against himself. An accused is entitled to confront
and cross examine the witnesses against him, to compel the
attendance of witnesses, to present a defense, and to tes-
tify in his own behalf.

Sec. 17. A criminal case in which the punishment may be capital shall
be tried before a jury of twelve persons, all of whom must
concur to render a verdict. A case in which the punishment
is necessarily confinement at hard labor shall be tried
before a jury of twelve persons, ten of whom must concur to
render a verdict. A case in which the punishment may be
confinement at hard labor or confinement without hard labor
for more than six months shall be tried before a jury of six
persons, five of whom must concur to render a verdict. The
accused shall have the right to full voir dire examination
of prospective jurors and to challenge jurors peremptorily.
The number of challenges shall be fixed by law. Except in
capital cases, a defendant may knowingly and intelligently
waive his right to a trial by jury.

Sec. 18. Excessive bail shall not be required. Before and during a
trial, a person shall be bailable by sufficient surety,
except when he is charged with a capital offense and the
proof is evident and the presumption of guilt is great.
After conviction and before sentencing, a person shall be
bailable if the maximum sentence which may be imposed is
imprisonment for five years or less; and the judge may grant
bail if the maximum sentence which may be imposed is
imprisonment exceeding five years. After sentencing and
until final judgement, a person shall be bailable if the
sentence actually imposed is five years or less; and the
judge may grant bail if the sentence actually imposed
exceeds imprisonment for five years.

Sec. 19. No person shall be subjected to imprisonment or forfeiture
of rights or property without the right to judicial review
based upon a complete record of all evidence upon which the
judgement is based. This right may be intelligently waived.
The cost of transcribing the record shall be paid as pro-
vided by law.

Sec. 20. No law shall subject any person to euthanasia, to torture,
or to cruel, excessive, or unusual punishment. Full rights
of citizenship shall be restored upon termination of state
and federal supervision following conviction for any of-
fense.

Sec. 21. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended.

Sec. 22. All courts shall be open, and every person shall have an
adequate remedy by due process of law and justice, adminis-
tered without denial, partiality, or unreasonable delay, for
injury to him in his person, property, reputation, or other
rights.

Sec. 23. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing
the obligation of contracts shall be enacted.

Sec. 24. The enumeration in this constitution of certain rights shall
not deny or disparage other right retained by the individual
citizens of the state.

ARTICLE X

Sec. 30. Every official shall take the following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the
constitution of the United States and the constitution and
laws of this state and that I will faithfully and impartial-
ly discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as
......., according to the best of my ability and understand-
ing, so help me God."

[BurbankKarl]

"All Is Well!"

[BurbankKarl]

ping to 479