First of all, they took the guns illegally using a the weak excuse of “safety issues” (which is highly dubious and ironic to say the LEAST!).  Was this only the New Orleans police dept. or were others involved?  Who knows what some of the thugs more commonly referred to as Blackwater did with the guns after that.  I wouldn’t claim my gun from these nutjobs either.

They also make the lame IMPLICATION that ANYONE with a gun is in fact dangerous.  If this were true, since statistically there is at LEAST one gun per household in the U.S., wouldn’t we all have killed each other already?  Guns are dangerous, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT but they ARE LEGAL.

The process of making sweeps and collecting the private property of citizens IS ILLEGAL.  Taking the guns is AGAINST SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS.  The various states and communities have their various laws regulating gun ownership, and as long as citizens WERE IN COMPLIANCE, there was NO REASON to confiscate them.

Even if you don’t agree with guns per say, the issue still remains that THEY BROKE THE LAW BY CONFISCATING people’s guns/PRIVATE PROPERTY without warrant or even ACCUSATION.  There is a bigger issue here than just the guns.

Funny how sleezy, lying, authoritarian pieces of dog do-do can unite the masses….isn’t it…?

As to the NRA being a front for arms manufacturers, interesting point, I hadn’t thought about that. The NRA always has these nutjobs as spokespeople and at least in the past were “pretty way out there”, I, as well as many gun owners don’t endorse their issues nor their rhetoric.  This is a first….....my god… things have gotten so insane that now even normal people find the need to side with the NRA…..!!?!  This blows my frikken mind….....

The NRA supports Cheney                    
                                 
That is why I support the 2nd Amendment foundation.

Next time the NRA calls you for a donation remind them of what a bad shot Cheney is and why he should be denied gun rights.

Greetings,

Here are my thoughts as to why the Second Amendment is so terribly important.  An armed population acts as a counterweight - a fourth branch of government if ya like.

See, whenever the State decides something it immediately backs up that decision with the threat of force.  If the State decides to make alcohol or marijuana illegal it doesn’t ask its citizens to follow the new law but forces them to.

The State will flood the streets with thugs (you call them “police”), build courthouses, hire judges, construct jails and build prisons.  They are not asking - they are telling. 

Now, when We the People want something we’re told to go parade around and wave some signs.  Really? the State doesn’t parade around waving signs when they want us to do something.  They immediately and without exception resort to force.  The State only understands force (which is why we don’t mess with N. Korea) and will even execute its own citizens when given the chance.

As long as we keep our weapons, we can act as a counterweight to the authorities should they, say, steal an election, pass a silly law, or attempt to place citizens in concentration camps (remember the Japanese??).  Or we can give up our power and hope for the best.

Rowdy, I think NRA only has about 4 million active members who pay annual dues, at present. That number is probably more significant for NRA’s operating budget than for their political clout, because their sympathetic support base is much larger. There are between 65-85 million gun owners in the US, and 30-35 million of them are handgun owners. I think it is safe to assume that most of them want to retain the right to keep the guns they have. The NRA is very good at mobilizing these non-member voters when key gun control issues come up, so when the NRA speaks, they are usually voicing the opinions of a major segment of the American public,  and politicians know this.

Wikipedia has a decent summary of NRA’s history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association

I just spent 30 minutes googling nra. it was scary when i came upon their official “news” site. i was trying to find an “official” count of the membership. i couldn’t. it was nowhere to be seen. i have read that it is about 10 million. how can this small # of people have such political influence? clearly the nra is a front group for the arms manufacturers, just one more lobbying arm to keep everything going in their favor.

The comments thus far should be enough to convince me that I went out on a limb in assigning my Chutzpah of the Week award to the National Rifle Association:

http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2007/12/chutzpah-for-sake-of-attention.html

Nevertheless, I think that my justification (“indelicately exploiting a delicate situation”) still holds.  There are plenty of cases in which if-not-now-when logic can be applied;  but I do not think that this is one of them.  The NRA was flexing its political muscle in preparation for the selection of candidates for the Presidential election, and they decided to do this at the expense of New Orleans institutions that are still picking up the pieces of their organization.  Regardless of the merits of either side of the case, no one will benefit from how the NRA has chosen to pursue it.

The police story is BS,  everyone down there knows it, and it should be no surprise to anyone familiar with New Orleans PD as they are widely regarded as the most corrupt police departments in the United States. Contrary to their current spin,  there were many reports of police taking guns directly from people, including those they forced from their homes, refusing to give receipts, claiming they needed the guns more than the citizens did, or merely taking them with no reason given.

The mandate from the police leaders was clear:

New Orleans Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass III said, “Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons,” and ABC News quoted Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley stating, “No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons.”

At a time when citizens needed their personal firearms most, when the police could not protect them, when criminal gangs were roaming the city, the police solution was to disarm the citizens. Brilliant. I’m sure many gun control advocates would approve.

This was the most flagrant police violation of the US Constitution in decades, and the NRA/SLA are right to hold the police and mayor accountable to be help insure this does not happen in the future.

•  #122701 by rhizome on 12/27 at 12:15 am
I have always been baffled by the left’s anti- 2nd Amendment stance. This is truly a situation that transcends race and politics. The lousy cops walk off the job, the city is flooded by paramilitary Blackwater goons, and someone in a position of authority feels it should be a priority to seize legally-owned handguns? Why should the owners have to present a bill of sale? Cops are supposed to issue receipts whenever seizing property to whomever they’re stealing it from, the onus is on them. Wake up, lefties- where would the Spanish Republic have been in ‘36 and ‘37 if the citizens hadn’t been armed?

Rhimzome,
It would appear that your comments have zero to do with the circumstances, and ALL to do with ‘blaming lefties’ (who are whom? – you can’t even say I’m sure. Just a nice broad political category, eh?)

The cops claim to have seized guns that were either abandoned or stolen. That would make sense to a non-ideological person, rather than a ‘righty’ like yourself. If they picked up abandoned or stolen weapons, it would make sense to make them available for reclaiming, ONLY to the people that owned them to begin with.
Since these ‘owners’ were apparently NOT among those who were left behind (or prevented from getting away from the destruction at the time) it makes sense that many either left without their weapons, or died, or had them stolen in the process. So, if they are now alive, and returned, then why the hell SHOULDN’T they show some record of having been the owner of the gun to begin with?

So, this isn’t a ‘lefty’ thing, nor is it an anti-2nd amendment issue like you’re trying to make it. No doubt the Blackwater goons did descend on the remaining population, AFTER the damage was done, and those who had been either unable to ‘escape’ or intentionally prevented from escaping, were left totally unprotected. However,that TOO was very intentional, and most of them wouldn’t have had any weapons to begin with.

The bulk of those that they are now trying to return these weapons to, are those who DID get away, so I think that like the NRA righties, you’re just trying to stir up shit.

As for the Spanish Republic, who gives a shit? We’re talking about New Orleans, in the 21st Century.

What is going on here?The NRA is right the murder level in New Orleans is too low.Get those guns back on the streets.Sure the murder rate i is high by most standards but it is because of the lack of guns on the streets that they are not doing better.With the NRA’s help New Orleans may be able to set murder rates that will be the envy of cities everywhere.Go NRA help New Orleans set those new high records.