A Decade Later,
Remember New Orleans … Gun Confiscation Can (and Has) Happened in America
Friday, August 21, 2015
August 29th marks the 10-year anniversary of when Hurricane
Katrina struck New Orleans, La.
The memory of the devastation wrought by the storm and the resulting chaos is a
human tragedy of such a vast scale that it endures to this day; and will well
beyond. Further, the measures taken to disarm law-abiding firearm owners in
Katrina’s wake should serve as a testament to why gun owners guard our right to
bear arms so vigilantly.
The disorder of the storm’s aftermath – and the inability of local law enforcement to contain it – brought into stark realization the importance of the right to keep and bear arms in order to provide for the defense of oneself, loved ones, and community. Stories of looting and violence abounded. A police chief described post-Katrina New Orleans by stating, "it was like Mogadishu.”
Despite their inability to cope with the resulting mayhem, several days after the storm passed New Orleans officials ordered the confiscation of lawfully-owned firearms from city residents. In a September 8, 2005 article, the New York Times described the scene, stating, “Local police officers began confiscating weapons from civilians in preparation for a forced evacuation of the last holdouts still living here… Police officers and federal law enforcement agents scoured the city carrying assault rifles seeking residents who have holed up to avoid forcible eviction.”
As reported by the Washington Post, New Orleans Superintendent P. Edwin Compass made clear, "No one will be able to be armed,” and, “Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." At the time, NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre noted the nature of the seizures, stating, "In many cases, it was from their homes at gunpoint. There were no receipts given or anything else at a time when there was no 911 response and these citizens were out there on their own protecting their families."
City authorities were selective with their order, discriminating against the most vulnerable. The Times noted that the city’s order “apparently does not apply to the hundreds of security guards whom businesses and some wealthy individuals have hired to protect their property… Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.” In 2005 Ray Nagin served as the mayor of New Orleans. Nagin would go on to become a member of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns, and later federal inmate No. 32751-034, following 2014 convictions for fraud and bribery.
In the years that followed, New Orleans officials were unrepentant. In a 2006 interview with local radio station WWL, New Orleans Superintendent Warren Riley said, “During a circumstance like that, we cannot allow people to walk the street carrying guns…as law enforcement officers we will confiscate the weapon if a person is walking down the street and they may be arrested.”
NRA immediately denounced the confiscations as unlawful under state law and unconstitutional, and set to work rectifying New Orleans’ abuse of power and ensuring that no American would be faced with confiscation under a similar scenario.
NRA promptly filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against New Orleans in order to halt the city’s confiscation efforts. On September 23, Judge Jay Zainey granted a temporary restraining order barring New Orleans and the surrounding communities from further confiscations, and required that the seized guns be returned. NRA also successfully worked to lift a ban on firearm possession for those living in Federal Emergency Management Agency housing as a result of the storm.
The city dragged its feet in returning confiscated firearms to their lawful owners. However, NRA persisted until 2008, when NRA and New Orleans came to a settlement in which the city agreed to carry out an acceptable procedure for returning the firearms. The agreement allowed owners to get back their guns without documented proof of ownership, which many residents were understandably unable to provide.
NRA’s post-Katrina efforts did not stop at the Louisiana border. NRA prompted mayors and police chiefs across America to sign a pledge stating that they will, “never forcibly disarm the law-abiding citizens” of their city. Further, NRA worked to limit the power of state and local governments to regulate firearms in times of emergency, by advocating for emergency powers reform legislation throughout the country. Currently, over half of the states have some form of emergency powers provision protecting gun owners from government abuse during a crisis.
In 2006, moreover, President George W. Bush signed into law the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which contained an NRA-backed amendment sponsored by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). The amendment prohibits persons acting under color of federal law, receiving federal funds, or acting at the direction of a federal employee from seizing or authorizing the seizure of lawfully-possessed firearms or imposing or enforcing certain restrictions on firearms during a state of emergency.
The disorder of the storm’s aftermath – and the inability of local law enforcement to contain it – brought into stark realization the importance of the right to keep and bear arms in order to provide for the defense of oneself, loved ones, and community. Stories of looting and violence abounded. A police chief described post-Katrina New Orleans by stating, "it was like Mogadishu.”
Despite their inability to cope with the resulting mayhem, several days after the storm passed New Orleans officials ordered the confiscation of lawfully-owned firearms from city residents. In a September 8, 2005 article, the New York Times described the scene, stating, “Local police officers began confiscating weapons from civilians in preparation for a forced evacuation of the last holdouts still living here… Police officers and federal law enforcement agents scoured the city carrying assault rifles seeking residents who have holed up to avoid forcible eviction.”
As reported by the Washington Post, New Orleans Superintendent P. Edwin Compass made clear, "No one will be able to be armed,” and, “Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." At the time, NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre noted the nature of the seizures, stating, "In many cases, it was from their homes at gunpoint. There were no receipts given or anything else at a time when there was no 911 response and these citizens were out there on their own protecting their families."
City authorities were selective with their order, discriminating against the most vulnerable. The Times noted that the city’s order “apparently does not apply to the hundreds of security guards whom businesses and some wealthy individuals have hired to protect their property… Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.” In 2005 Ray Nagin served as the mayor of New Orleans. Nagin would go on to become a member of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns, and later federal inmate No. 32751-034, following 2014 convictions for fraud and bribery.
In the years that followed, New Orleans officials were unrepentant. In a 2006 interview with local radio station WWL, New Orleans Superintendent Warren Riley said, “During a circumstance like that, we cannot allow people to walk the street carrying guns…as law enforcement officers we will confiscate the weapon if a person is walking down the street and they may be arrested.”
NRA immediately denounced the confiscations as unlawful under state law and unconstitutional, and set to work rectifying New Orleans’ abuse of power and ensuring that no American would be faced with confiscation under a similar scenario.
NRA promptly filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against New Orleans in order to halt the city’s confiscation efforts. On September 23, Judge Jay Zainey granted a temporary restraining order barring New Orleans and the surrounding communities from further confiscations, and required that the seized guns be returned. NRA also successfully worked to lift a ban on firearm possession for those living in Federal Emergency Management Agency housing as a result of the storm.
The city dragged its feet in returning confiscated firearms to their lawful owners. However, NRA persisted until 2008, when NRA and New Orleans came to a settlement in which the city agreed to carry out an acceptable procedure for returning the firearms. The agreement allowed owners to get back their guns without documented proof of ownership, which many residents were understandably unable to provide.
NRA’s post-Katrina efforts did not stop at the Louisiana border. NRA prompted mayors and police chiefs across America to sign a pledge stating that they will, “never forcibly disarm the law-abiding citizens” of their city. Further, NRA worked to limit the power of state and local governments to regulate firearms in times of emergency, by advocating for emergency powers reform legislation throughout the country. Currently, over half of the states have some form of emergency powers provision protecting gun owners from government abuse during a crisis.
In 2006, moreover, President George W. Bush signed into law the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which contained an NRA-backed amendment sponsored by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). The amendment prohibits persons acting under color of federal law, receiving federal funds, or acting at the direction of a federal employee from seizing or authorizing the seizure of lawfully-possessed firearms or imposing or enforcing certain restrictions on firearms during a state of emergency.
Having gone through such a horrific ordeal, in the years after Katrina New Orleans residents exhibited a greater appreciation for their right to bear arms. The number of Right-to-Carry permit holders in the city doubled from 2004 to 2006. In reporting the experience of Vivian Westerman, a sixty-four-year-old that stayed in her home during Katrina, the Associated Press noted that, “So terrible was [Katrina] that [Westerman] wanted two things before the next hurricane season arrived: a backup power source and a gun.” Westerman told the AP that after purchasing a .38-revolver, “I’ve never been more confident.” In September 2008, when Hurricane Gustav threatened the city, the New York Post reported that those remaining in the city were “locked & loaded,” and detailed the stories of several armed residents.
As we remember the terrible devastation of Katrina, gun owners should further commit themselves to ensuring that Americans are never again deprived of the ability to defend themselves in their hour of need. A decade later, Wayne LaPierre’s words following Katrina are still as relevant as ever, “The lesson of New Orleans is that citizens must be able to rely on their own ability to survive. The answer once and for all to politicians who say Americans don’t need the Second Amendment, government will protect you, the answer forever more is New Orleans.”
Hurricane Katrina
Bush-Clinton
Katrina Fund raised funds to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Note: William J. Clinton
was a spokesman for the Bush-Clinton
Katrina Fund, and is the founder of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Thomas F. McLarty
III was a director at the Bush-Clinton
Katrina Fund, and funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, Human Rights First, and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone, and William D. Zabel was his divorce lawyer.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, the Brookings Institution (think tank), Human Rights First, and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, is a co-chair for the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, and the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety.
Marc
Morial is an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and was a New
Orleans (LA) mayor.
Annise
Parker is an advisory board member for for Everytown for Gun Safety, and a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Hurricane
Katrina caused vast devastation in New
Orleans (LA).
Thad
W. Allen oversaw the emergency response for Hurricane Katrina, is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and the EVP for Booz Allen Hamilton.
Kenneth
Canterbury is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and the president for the Fraternal Order of Police.
William J. Bratton
is a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, and was the police commissioner for Boston (MA).
Thomas
M. Menino was the Boston (MA) mayor,
an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and a co-chair for Mayors
Against Illegal Guns.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Lee
H. Hamilton is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a senior
counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld, LLP, and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
James C. Langdon
Jr. is a partner at the Akin, Gump,
Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and
was a director at the Bush-Clinton
Katrina Fund.
Bush-Clinton
Katrina Fund raised funds to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Joint
Task Force Katrina organized the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina.
Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
was a participating agency for the Joint
Task Force Katrina, and is a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Nathaniel T.G.
Fogg was the deputy COO for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and a management consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton.
Thad
W. Allen is the EVP for Booz Allen
Hamilton, a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and oversaw the emergency response for Hurricane Katrina.
Robert S. Osborne
was the EVP & general counsel for Booz
Allen Hamilton, and is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
James
D. Zirin is a senior counsel for Sidley
Austin LLP, and was a director at Human
Rights First.
Mark
A. Angelson was a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a director at Human
Rights First.
William
D. Zabel is the chair for Human
Rights First, and was George Soros’s
divorce lawyer.
Kenneth R.
Feinberg is a director at Human
Rights First, the victim compensation administrator for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, an adviser
on victim claims after 2014 recall for General
Motors, an administrator for One
Fund Boston, a trustee at the RAND
Corporation (think tank), was an administrator of victim payments for the 2012 Aurora (CO) theater shootings, and
a special master for the September 11th
Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.
One Fund Boston
is a victim assistance fund for the 2013
Boston Marathon bombings.
Thad
W. Allen was a senior fellow at the RAND
Corporation (think tank), oversaw
the emergency response for Hurricane
Katrina, is the EVP for Booz Allen
Hamilton, and a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council.
Kenneth
Canterbury is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and the president for the Fraternal Order of Police.
William J. Bratton
is a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, and was the police commissioner for Boston (MA).
Thomas
M. Menino was the Boston (MA) mayor,
an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and a co-chair for Mayors
Against Illegal Guns.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Warren E. Buffett
is an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and an adviser for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), the chairman & CEO for Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Ronald
L. Olson is a director at the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), a director at Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and a trustee at the RAND Corporation.
Thad
W. Allen was a senior fellow at the RAND
Corporation (think tank), oversaw
the emergency response for Hurricane
Katrina, is the EVP for Booz Allen
Hamilton, and a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council.
Kenneth R.
Feinberg is a trustee at the RAND
Corporation (think tank), a director at Human Rights First, the victim compensation administrator for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, an adviser
on victim claims after 2014 recall for General
Motors, an administrator for One
Fund Boston, was an administrator of victim payments for the 2012 Aurora (CO) theater shootings, and
a special master for the September 11th
Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.
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