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While cotinuing to spout lies about the Katrina gun confiscation, the New Orleans Police Department grudgingly agrees to return the guns it unlawfully confiscated from law abiding gun owners.
Finally, something that at least passes for justice!NOPD, NRA call truce over gun seizures
Lawsuit suspended as weapons returned in Katrina-related clash
Saturday, April 22, 2006
By Trymaine Lee
The legal skirmish between the New Orleans Police Department, the city and the National Rifle Association over the return of firearms confiscated after Hurricane Katrina has come to a cease-fire, with the NOPD agreeing to return some of the 700 weapons gathered during the storm and the NRA withdrawing its lawsuit against the city.
The actions came after months in which the NRA had claimed, in court and in press releases, that the city and its police department unlawfully disarmed citizens in the face of lawlessness and thuggery after the storm.
Police this week began returning the guns, but Superintendent Warren Riley said most of the weapons were not taken from the hands of gun owners. Instead, he said they were seized from empty homes where evacuees left them behind, to prevent looters from getting their hands on them.
Those weapons will be returned, police said, provided owners can show proof of ownership and proper identification. If claimants can't provide those documents, a sworn and notarized affidavit stating the weapon belongs to that person will be accepted. The department will make the guns available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As of Friday, police said 25 guns had been returned.
The NRA and other gun-rights advocates had sued the city, saying it unlawfully took the guns during the storm and then failed to return them months after law and order was restored. Riley maintained that the only weapons NOPD officers seized were those left in evacuated homes, those stashed in blighted, abandoned homes and alleyways or guns from people trying to carry them onto evacuation buses or into shelters.
When asked if the dozens of other law-enforcement agencies in the city after the storm held to that policy, Riley said he couldn't speak on their behalf.
"We took guns that were stolen that were stashed in alleyways. If we went into an abandoned house and a gun was there, absolutely we took the weapons," Riley said. "Obviously there were looters out there. We didn't want some burglar or looter to have an opportunity to arm themselves."
"I don't know where they are getting this," Riley said of the NRA claims. "We didn't go around just disarming citizens."barf: )
The NRA withdrew the lawsuit this week after New Orleans police agreed to start returning guns. But chief NRA lobbyist Chris Cox said the group would refile it if the gun-return process is unsatisfactory.
"We have not dropped our contempt-of-court lawsuit," Cox said. "We withdrew it after (Mayor Ray Nagin's) people and the NOPD agreed that they would start in good faith returning all the firearms. But we will file it again without hesitation if we find their efforts to be less than satisfactory."
Cox said the NOPD, along with a host of other law-enforcement agencies, were responsible for door-to-door seizures after Katrina. He said a recent town hall meeting the NRA organized in New Orleans drew hundreds of residents alleging they were stripped of their weapons by police. Cox also cited comments that former NOPD Superintendent Eddie Compass made to the press immediately after Katrina, saying that all citizens except for law-enforcement personnel would be stripped of their guns.
"This isn't about finding guns in abandoned buildings and abandoned cars," Cox said. "It's about taking people's Second Amendment rights when they needed them most."
NOPD spokeswoman Bambi Hall said some of the people who hoped to retrieve their weapons from the department's temporary North Lopez Street headquarters this week did not have the required documents and walked away empty-handed and angry.
"They come orderly," Hall said. "Now, when they leave some of them are upset. Some of them come with no proof of ownership. We had one guy come with a gun case with serial numbers etched inside but with no proof he owns the gun."
Hall said it's important for gun owners to come with the proper paperwork. Police also are running criminal background checks on those coming for guns.
"Once we verify that they are indeed the owner, we do a criminal check, post-Katrina through now, to make sure there is nothing on their record for the last seven months," she said.
If the check comes up clear, the weapon then is registered with the NOPD. Police said some gun owners were shocked to learn that their weapons have been involved in crimes and now are considered evidence and not eligible for release. Riley said weapons seized before Katrina also will not be returned.
People trying to retrieve their guns seized during Katrina can go to NOPD headquarters at 430 N. Lopez St. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.