Following up on the prior post regarding the illegitimate seizing of legally held guns by the authorities in Louisiana, I give you Dave Kopel, writing in Reason:
The good gun-owning citizens of New Orleans and the surrounding areas ought to be thanked for helping to save some of their city after Mayor Nagin, incoherent and weeping, had fled to Baton Rouge. Yet instead these citizens are being victimized by a new round of home invasions and looting, these ones government-organized, for the purpose of firearms confiscation.
Last week, we saw an awful truth in New Orleans: A disaster can bring out predators ready to loot, rampage, and pillage the moment that they have the opportunity. Now we are seeing another awful truth: There is no shortage of police officers and National Guardsmen who will obey illegal orders to threaten peaceful citizens at gunpoint and confiscate their firearms.
Liberals always seem to be whining about the potential curtailing of liberties under such wartime provisions as the Patriot Act. Yet, when the authorities break their own laws and curtail deliniated Constitutional rights, nary a peep is heard from the left or their organs in the mainstream media. Yet imagine the outcry if they had, say, for safety reasons, put in place a temporary ban on abortions {which as we all know is a right clearly spelled out by our Founding Fathers}. Think it would go ignored by the media?
No, this is not melodrama. I can only imagine the Mad-Max type world that brought residents of New Orleans to this:
When night falls, Charlie Hackett climbs the steps to his boarded-up window, takes down the plywood, grabs his 12-gauge shotgun and waits. He is waiting for looters and troublemakers, for anyone thinking his neighborhood has been abandoned like so many others across the city. Two doors down, John Carolan is doing the same on his screened-in porch, pistol by his side. They are not about to give up their homes to the lawlessness that has engulfed New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. [via YAHOO!]
These are Americans, and this is what we do when the chips are down, when our backs are against the wall. Had this happened in Britian, or some other gun-control nation, I guarentee you the looter-fueled wreckage would have equaled the storm related damage. Cowards whom become animals in moments of fear and confusion are looking for easy pickings; and will not take on the determined man with a gun.
Everything we have is in our homes. With the lawlessness in this town, are you going to walk away from everything you built?" Carolan says. "A lot of people think we're stupid. They say, `Why did you stay?' I say, `Why didn't you stay?'"
We don't think you're stupid, Mr. Carolan...trust me, you have America's respect. Too bad your Democratic Governer sees fit to take away your only means to protect what is yours...
Link to Reason article here (includes link to Yahoo story): http://www.reason.com/hod/dk091005.shtml
3 comments:
Actually, this has already been noted in the “liberal” press. What I haven’t seenyet is any comment by the NRA on this issue. They seem to be lacking in fervor when it comes to challenging the bush administration when it takes away our rights. At least the ACLU jumps right in no matter what side of the political spectrum the issue falls on. Nazis, hippies, they don’t care who you are, only about your rights.
this from democracy.org
Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans
As the threat of forced evictions now looms in New Orleans and the city confiscates even legally registered weapons from civilians, the private mercenaries of Blackwater patrol the streets openly wielding M-16s and other assault weapons. This despite Police Commissioner Eddie Compass' claim that "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."
and this from the New York Times on Sept 8,
New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms as Water Recedes
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8 - Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.
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 what I’ve found even more disturbing is the recent ruling in the Padilla case. See Jose Padilla and the Death of Personal Liberty br>
When the executive branch can imprison anyone they choose, without charges, and hold them indefinitely, and even in secrecy, then we have NO rights. And the Bill of Rights has lost all meaning. This is something that all Americans, left and right, should be protesting in the streets, and in mail to their “representatives” in Congress.
The wrong way to tackle the problem?
Hey, take a look at what happened in Rwanda when UN forces were told "do not fire until fired upon"
Parallel - in case you can not see it - there are people in this world who do not use guns solely for self defence. We have seen these people in LO already - the ones who fire at rescue helicopters or police for example.
So, the police, the fire brigade, the rescue teams should get shot first?
Or would you rather the police went out and shot innocent civilians on the off-chance that they might be armed - like happens in Baghdad?
Or do people with guns have greater rights to life than do those trying to rescue them?
Or do people with guns have greater rights than those trying to protect the property of people who left the city as ordered?
It is quite sickening, really...
It is strange that the NRA seems to be "lacking in fervor" on this one...Maybe one of their buddies in DC told them to stay on the down-low until the crises in New Orleans passes? Or I can be altruistic (I'm not a NRA member, by the way) and say maybe the NRA is taking it upon themselves to lay low and not create a constitutional crises at this fragile time. Maybe I was too "gung-ho" in calling for the NRA to step up now; as in retrospect I believe some of the more sickening images of this natural disaster is how many in the Democratic party seized on it for attempted political gain, while the bodies were still piling up...
But I question your enthusiasm for the ACLU's "lack of bias"; or certainly they would be standing up right now for those whose 2nd Amendment rights were violated.
But as the ACLU shows, some aspects of the Constitution matter more to the left than others...
But if you say guns are dangerous, Probligo (and they are), then a world with gun control is even more so. For instance:
Turkey established gun control in 1911. From 1915 through 1917, 1.5 MILLION Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Germany established gun control in 1938. From 1939 through 1945, 13 MILLION Jews, Gypsies, HOMOSEXUALS, the mentally ill, and other "mongrolized" people, were rounded up and exterminated.
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 through 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Lifted from here,by the way: http://www.ycsi.net/users/gunsmith/quotes.htm
Just think of how much worse the property damage in New O. would have been if some didn't take up arms to enforce a peace.
That's Americans for you...
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