Today, in a landmark victory for NRA and law-abiding gun owners, Judge Carl J. Barbier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied the City of New Orleans’ motion to dismiss NRA’s lawsuit against the city and held that the Second Amendment applies to law-abiding residents in the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans. Straining the bounds of credibility and reflecting the true sentiment of anti-gunners, the City of New Orleans contemptuously argued that the Second Amendment does not apply to residents in the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans.
NRA first filed suit after reports surfaced indicating that, following Hurricane Katrina, firearms were confiscated from law-abiding New Orleans residents. Former New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass issued orders to confiscate firearms from all citizens, under a flawed state emergency powers law. With that one order, the one means of self-protection innocent victims had during a time of widespread civil disorder was stripped away.
NRA filed suit in federal court and won a preliminary injunction ending all the illegal gun confiscations. After the City of New Orleans failed to comply with the court’s ruling and dishonestly claimed that the gun confiscations never occurred, NRA filed a motion for contempt that included an order directing all seized firearms be returned to their rightful owners.
After denying the illegal confiscations for months, on March 15, 2006, Mayor Nagin and the New Orleans Police Department finally conceded in federal court that the seized firearms were stored in two trailers. The city then agreed in court to a process by which law-abiding citizens would be able to file a claim to receive their confiscated firearms. However, few firearms were returned because the NOPD never notified gun owners how to claim their guns, and turned many away citing impossible standards for proof of ownership.
Today’s ruling sets the stage for a continued legal fight in which NRA will be forced to expend additional resources to fight back the anti-gunner’s blatant and shameful attempts to ignore the Second Amendment. The case will now move to discovery and pre-trial preparation.
NRA will keep you informed of future developments regarding this case.
If you would like to make contribution to support NRA-ILA’s efforts in this case, please visit https://secure.nraila.org/Contribute.aspx .
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