The Seizing of Guns in New Orleans

[jahcs]

Public domain!  Like how they got the right to tear down a whole block of houses to make way for a new Rite-Aid that nobody but Rite-Aid really wanted!
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I believe eminent domain is the term for that situation. ;)

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The 2nd Amendment:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The 4th Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

New Orleans Police Superintendent on confiscation of firearms:
No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.
But that order apparently does not apply to hundreds of security guards hired by businesses and some wealthy individuals to protect property. The guards, employees of private security companies like Blackwater, openly carry M-16's and other assault rifles. 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.

One reason given in the New York Times for the seizure:
New Orleans police officers begin confiscating weapons from civilians in preparation for forced evacuation of last holdouts...
NY Times September 9, 2005

Do the local and state declarations of emergency allow the suspension of civil liberties, most notably the 2nd Amendment and the 4th Amendment? The Mayor of New Orleans and the Police Superintendent think so. A Louisiana state statute allows the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies. Take the guns away from the crooks and then take the crooks away. Leave the law abiding citizens alone!

The words of some of our Founding Fathers fit nicely here:

"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution, June, 1776

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms. . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -- Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book, 1774-1776, quoting from On Crimes and Punishment, by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764

"A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves . . . and include all men capable of bearing arms. . . To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms... The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle." --Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer, 1788

"Whereas civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as military forces, which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms." --Tench Coxe, Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789

"[A]rms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves." --Thomas Paine, Thoughts On Defensive War, 1775
Doesn't Wilkipedia Rock! B)

Laurence Tribe, American Constitutional Law 902 n. 221 (2000): "Perhaps the most accurate conclusion one can reach with any confidence is that the core meaning of the Second Amendment is a populist / republican / federalism one: Its central object is to arm 'We the People' so that ordinary citizens can paricipate in the collective defense of their community and their state.
From a UCLA paper on the 2nd Amendment

The seizure of firearms was the wrong way to solve the problem, in my opinion. While looking for sources I came across several stories of neghborhoods banding together to protect their property, in essence, a local militia. The local authorities might have been able to coordinate with these groups and call upon others to form similar groups. It might have helped.