Posted on 09/08/2005 3:40:23 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
BTTT!!!!!
There are no "legally registered weapons" in Louisiana, which does not require registration. (with the exception of NFA like firearms, that is machine guns, short shotguns, short rifles, destructive devices, etc).
Or how about an injunction? The NRA has lawyers, don't they?
Amen and dittos to your post 29!
If there is no legal registration, and people aren't violating any carry restrictions, then on what grounds can the weapons be seized if martial law hasn't been declared?
And chlorine doesn't kill everything.
So what can we citizens do? We can't just sit here and watch it happen.
I received word from a CHP employee that the CHP officers were deputized by the State of Louisiana as deputies, and are operating under the authority of Governor Blanco. I was half afraid they were working under the federal government.
"Per the mornings FNC she was later released and she said she was going back home."
That IS good news!!!
"Just saw this on ABC news...they are taking guns away from Americans in their own homes! And I'm not talking about gang members. This doesn't sit well with me."
These are the very same folk who will deny any responsibility to protect either that citizen or his home. This just makes it easier for the government to drag the citizen off to the camps where he can be controled.
I fail to see any legal right to do this and I note there is no legal recourse for trhe citizen as the courts are not in operation, so the government simply does what it desires.
It will only take one public shootout of some poor family being hurt while they are haouled from their home, as seen at Waco, and this will stop.
I expect the citizens are now hiding their arms from the goons.
those were CHP officers with one NOPD officer. under their rules of engagement, the NOPD officer has to be the one talking...
I thought registration would never lead to confiscation! How interesting!
Chlorine can kill everything if it is 'break-point' injected at a hydraulic jump, but obviously there will be pockets that take more time and effort. The important point is that the water can be dealt with far more easily, and safely than prodding the people into an insurrection. Those who have stayed behind are not the soft-haired sheep that will just give up without a wimper.
Why stop there? I suspect they want more than the usual loot. They want property and power. They need to get all possible witnesses out of there. The citizen property owners especially. The reporters last, they may be useful if they report what they're told, and if they're kept in corral.
Want to bet the real estate records will be lost in the shuffle, and buildings will come down even in areas little affected by the flood? They'll be burned or demolished, and the blame will fall on vandals, arsonists, looters.
And when the federal agencies are no longer useful in any other way, the locals will turn on them, expel them and use them in a condemnation of the Bush administration.
With all due respects, you are preaching to the choir. ;)
Reality is that when the "authorities" come to remove someone, who is not a feeble old lady, they may well be shot. In turn the "authorities" will shoot and kill the vastly outnumbered [assumed] American.
It will be at that moment that the rest of America will wake up and hopefully put a stop to this political madness. JMHO.
Build their gallows high
Are you aware that Marshall refuted that authoritarian type argument back in 1803, Marbury v Madison?
No one in the USA is bond to obey 'laws' repugnant to the Constitution. In fact officers of the court, like you, are bound by oath to fight such repugnant laws.
I cannot make it any plainer than that. Have you got the point now?
John / Billybob
I think everyone, by now, gets your 'point'; - more than you realize. Thanks for helping to make it evident. You are really wasting my time. I've spent 35 years working with constitutional law, and you think I haven't read the cases or don't understand them?
You just made a point that: " -- ALL laws, on ALL subjects, in ALL jurisdictions remain on the books and are apparently valid -- ". This shows a complete lack of understanding basic constitutional law as outlined by Justice Marshall in 1803.
I've concluded that trying to talk with you on this subject is like trying to teach a pig to sing. It annoys the pig, and it wastes your time. Kindly don't reply in the future to anything I post. I will extend you the same courtesy. John
Sorry, but that pig don't fly.. Like you I've sworn an oath to defend our constitution. I'm defending it with these words, which refute yours.
Feel free to reply. -- Or not. -- No one forced you to make your last reply, which would have ended our present exchange.
Whenever there is an insurrections in any State against its government, the President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into Federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/332.html
Sec. 332. - Use of militia and armed forces to enforce Federal authority
Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State or Territory by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/333.html
Sec. 333. - Interference with State and Federal law
The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it -
(1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or
(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the
United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.
In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution
If I had this muck in my house, I wouldn't stay. But if I were the folks who were still dry, had food and water and no kids, I wouldn't leave. I don't get the mandatory evac for folks who haven't got water contamination probs in the house. Unless they're worried about skeeters and/or other airborne contagions. But still, if it's not legal, it's not legal. Where the heck is the Justice Dept?
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