New Orleans Gun Confiscation - The Real Story

[Charles L. Cotton]

I was in NRA Committee meetings and the fall meeting of the NRA Board of Directors last week. As a member of the Legal Affairs Committee, I was briefed on the suit filed in federal court against certain New Orleans and Parish officials in connection with the illegal confiscation of guns from law-abiding citizens. I would like to clear up what seems to be a misconception on various Internet discussion boards about the parties to this suit and who handled the legal representation.

I have seen several references to the suit being filed by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) with no reference to the NRA. The NRA was the lead plaintiff in the suit, with the SAF and others named as additional plaintiffs. NRA attorneys also did all of the work on the case, including the argument before the United States District Court. While there is no adversity between the NRA and the SAF, I wanted all NRA members to be aware that it was their organization (NRA) that did the work on this case and obtained the injunction preventing further confiscation and requiring the return of guns already taken illegally.

It is also important to understand the timing of the action. Understandably, when the news first broke about the confiscation, people were demanding immediate action, even those in NRA Headquarters. The NRA did take immediate action, although it was not visible to the public. NRA representatives went to New Orleans to identify people who were illegally disarmed, checked their backgrounds to make sure they could legally have firearms in their possession, and did other work to establish NRA's legal standing to bring the suit. (You can't file suit just because you don't like what is going on. You have to meet certain requirements to have legal standing to sue, otherwise the suit will be summarily dismissed.) As soon as all required information was obtained (under very difficult circumstances), suit was filed and the injunction was obtained. We can all be proud of the work of the NRA's investigators and legal team!

The suit is not over, but the injunction is in place to prevent a recurrence. There is every reason to believe we will continue to prevail, otherwise the Court would have denied the injunction. (One of the requirements for getting an injunction is the likelihood of prevailing at the time of trial.) In Florida, a bill has already been filed to prevent gun confiscation in times of "emergency" and the NRA's Marion Hammer is leading the charge. I suspect we will see other states follow suit, just as many are heeding the NRA's call to pass Florida-like Castle Doctrine legislation. So, when you see information leading you to believe the SAF obtained the injunction while the NRA did nothing, you’ll know better.

Regards,
Chas.

[HighVelocity]

Thanks for clearing that up Chas. I'm happy to see my NRA membership dollars are being used wisely.

[John]

Thank you for posting this infomation. I suspected as much. I'll add that I have only been a member here for a short period of time, but find this forum to be the best source for information on the the subjects covered. TexasCHLforum.com is terrific.

Thank You!

[Charles L. Cotton]

JohnC

Thanks for the kind words. We do have a great group of members who have made TexasCHLforum what it is today.

Regards,
Chas.

[dws1117]

Thank you for the information. It's certainly nice to have a voice from the inside.

[stevie_d_64]

I think that explains a lot of things Chas...But...

Even though I fully understand that there is no way to get immediate and definitive legal action against the local officials who instigated this travesty on those folks rights...I have a concern that with the spurious attention outside the Pro-2A community, that the recourse that appears to be obtainable through a court review and action from this suit, will not see much daylight...

I feel that unless actions similar to Marion's in Florida are reproduced in other States...The same kind of reaction by public officials WILL be implemented in the future...

First, because the coverage of this lawsuit will not be widely reported in venues where public officials, who are able to make mistakes like this frequent...

And second, that there will be no real penalty/punishment given by a court to make this really sting...

Personally...

I do think that this is a real problem, but given that we have seen worse breakdowns in the response and management to this natural disaster, I believe this issue is the least of their concerns...

So unless we get on the Marion train and get this headed off at the pass, we may see this again, and there may not much we can do about it then...

I'm glad to see the NRA lead the way, and that their leadership and ability to invite, and have other similar Pro-2A groups participate in this process, reinforces my personal convictions that we are actually taking care of these incidents in the right way...

I don't think it would be pontificating, if the NRA and these other groups were to have special times set aside in future conventions and meetings, with their membership, to explain to us in those forums what actually happened, and what the status of any actions or proceedings are at that particular time...

This forum's pretty tight as a group, and we are all well informed, and can get what we hear, out to those who may not know fully whats going on some of the time...

This needs to be an issue that is kept on the front burner for a while till some resolution is achieved through the court...

But thats just my take...And may not be worth 2 cents to rub together...

But at least I got it jotted down here...

[90north]

Yes it was interesting information about "behind the scenes" but can anyone tell me what happened to Patricia Konie?

[stevie_d_64]

Yes it was interesting information about "behind the scenes" but can anyone tell me what happened to Patricia Konie?

Is that the older woman who got taken down inside her home???

[tomneal]

This is just a note.

I have searched the NRA website and the TSRA web site. Neither orgs claim to have a "Magic Wand" to wave at out of control local police, District Attrnys, and governments.

In every case of abuse, it is going to take these orgs, some time to get these out of control folks in court and get the bad thing stopped.

Everyone is on-their-own for a "short" time.

That means that if "they" start confiscating arms, you should have some of yours where they won't easily be confiscated. OR you want have any until they give them back.

It also means that if local governments do bad things, you need to help stop it at the grassroots level.

Do your part.
Work with the TSRA, the NRA, the GOA, and even the folks at your gun range.

[stevie_d_64]

This is just a note.

I have searched the NRA website and the TSRA web site. Neither orgs claim to have a "Magic Wand" to wave at out of control local police, District Attrnys, and governments.

In every case of abuse, it is going to take these orgs, some time to get these out of control folks in court and get the bad thing stopped.

Everyone is on-their-own for a "short" time.

That means that if "they" start confiscating arms, you should have some of yours where they won't easily be confiscated. OR you want have any until they give them back.

It also means that if local governments do bad things, you need to help stop it at the grassroots level.

Do your part.
Work with the TSRA, the NRA, the GOA, and even the folks at your gun range.

Good point Tom...

[90north]

Ms. Konie was the elderly lady who was in an undamaged, well stocked residence in NO. The California Highway Patrol came into her residence, without her consent. They asked her if she had any weapons, when she replied "yes", askewd to see it. She was holding the pistol with her hand around the cylinder, in a non-threatening manner, and several times, on camera, told the police officers to leave. At no time did she threaten them, either verbally nor by action. A burly CHP officer felt it necessary, for his own safety, to body slam her and take her into custody. She was removed from her undamaged residence and thaken to the convention center (remember that place) for her own safety. She has disappeared. After a complaint by a police LT from another dept. to the CHP, they replied that the officer in question was doing his duty within dept (CHP) guidelines. Welcome to 3rd world policing in our own country. Another example is the current beating of a citizen and TV producer by NOPD this week.

[stevie_d_64]

We need to seriously shine some light on her case...

There were a lot of things I noticed in that video of those CHP'ers taking her down and diarming her that bothered me slightly...If that were my mom, there would be one deputy there who would be learning a new word...

Wonder if the NRA would take this issue to task...What could they do??? What would they do??? I'd at least like to see a public effort by the organizations to explore some creative closure to this incident...

Heck, if they got the initial incident on video, why not video a solution...