New Orleans Guns Returned
It’s a start. However, it’s not much of one. The headline states New Orleans police giving back weapons confiscated post-Katrina but that doesn’t really jive with the account. Looks like some guns are being returned after owners jump through various hoops. Some items:
A handful of people showed up Monday to try to get back guns confiscated by the New Orleans Police Department after Hurricane Katrina — and not many of those walked away with a weapon.
“They told me the police took them the first two weeks after the hurricane, after that it was the ATF,” said Charles Clark, 62, a retired law officer, who had an antique gun taken from his house after the Aug. 29 storm. “It’s very frustrating. I know we had a storm and all, but there should be a way to find out who has your property.”
Police, national guardsmen and military removed guns from houses during a search after the storm flooded the city, and they confiscated guns from some evacuees — leading to a lawsuit by gun-owner advocates including the National Rifle Association.
“Natural disasters may destroy great cities, but they do not destroy civil rights,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of Second Amendment Foundation, which joined the NRA in the suit.
Chief Warren Riley denied on Monday that his officers indulged in mass confiscations after the hurricane.
“If we took a gun from you and you were walking down the street, you went to jail,” Riley said. “We took guns that were in homes. 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. Obviously there were looters out there. We didn’t want some burglar or looter to have an opportunity to arm themselves.”
Actually, you guys taking guns from little old ladies was caught on tape. More:
About 700 weapons were made available to owners beginning on Monday.
Those seeking a weapon must bring either a bill of sale or an affidavit with the weapon’s serial number. Police also are running a criminal background check on anyone claiming a weapon.
“We were told 25 people went in to get their guns and eight left with their firearms,” Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, said Monday afternoon.
I have quite a few guns but I do not have a bill of sale for them. And I also don’t have a list of serial numbers (though I probably should make one). More:
Some found the guns were evidence in a crime and were not eligible for release. Others did not have the proper paperwork to get their guns. And for some the work of tracking down their weapons was just beginning.
Robert Evans, 40, was trying to get the Ruger P90, semiautomatic hand gun his wife surrendered to ATF agents at the New Orleans airport.
“The agent gave her a business card, but he never answers his phone,” Evans said.
And this quote sums it up:
“I won’t ever see that gun again believe me,” Taplet said. “It’s gone like everything else in that storm.”
Remember, at first authorities there denied the confiscations occured. Then later admitted to it when threatened with a lawsuit.
Update: Xavier has more.
April 18th, 2006 at 9:32 am
For the most part, I have bill of sales for all my guns (and for ones I’ve subsequently sold – don’t want to be traced back for selling a Glock .40 to a gang banger).
For those I don’t – mostly older weapons that were passed down to me, I’ve got serial numbers etc recorded (as I do for all my guns) on an excell spreadsheet and stored both on my computer, in a safe deposit box, and in various and sundry other places.
April 18th, 2006 at 9:58 am
“Actually, you guys taking guns from little old ladies was caught on tape.”
Imagine what went down when the cameras weren’t rolling.
April 18th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
I keep copies of the serial numbers and digital photos of each of my guns. And like countertop, I keep records of the guns I’ve sold as well.
Not so much for when they get confiscated. But burglary and house fires do happen, so it’s a good idea to have that information for the insurance.
April 18th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
“Those seeking a weapon must bring either a bill of sale or an affidavit with the weapon’s serial number”
I cannot believe the NRA has not raised hell over this stunt. I read a comment about this somewhere that pointed out the major problem. Most people do not have a bill of sale or the serial number of their firearms. Those that might have kept a receipt or copied down the serial numbers also got a house full of water during the flood. Some of you have said that you keep a list of serial numbers, others keep that info on your computer, and a few might also keep a copy in a safe deposit box. Better preparation than most folks, but when the floods come, paper, ink, computers, and all data on them are destroyed. The NOPD evidence room was flooded so I would bet a bank or two might have suffered the same fate. I have no knowledge about the water-proofness of a safe deposit box, but even if they stayed dry, I don’t think that many people use them for serial number storage (but should from now on).
This is absurd. The police are simply trying to avoid returning the property they stole from rightful gun owners. I really hope the NRA keep on this, but when they dropped the lawsuit and gave in to the ‘promise’ that guns would be returned, I realized that they just like to look supportive of gun owner rights rather than actually doing all they can to preserve and protect them.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
The original confiscation of the weapons was a travesty. But, in the absence of a bill of sale or a serial number, how do you separate the legitimate claimants from the bogus? How do you keep people from “upgrading” when they go to recover their weapons? If the location from which a weapon was taken was not recorded, it would seem that serial numbers are a minimum requirement to identify a particular weapon’s rightful owner.