TexasCHLforum.com

seamusTX wrote:

Texican_gal wrote:Why has the old NOLA police chief (Compass?) and ALL others who participated in this act of treason not been arrested??

Who would arrest them, and on what charge?

... snip

- Jim

I would assume that the state police would arrest them, or the FBI. But I don't know why this didn't happen.

If the police dept. violated another right saying, "Women can't vote in this election," and turned women away from the polls, who would do the arresting here? Wouldn't that be federal bad ju-ju? Federal powers should have acted on the citizen assault and gun theft too.

stevie_d_64 wrote:"Theft by a Public Official"

The position of state and city officials is that Louisiana law allowed confiscation of firearms during emergencies. Given that position, it would be very unusual for a state or local prosecutor to bring charges.

Arguably, the law did not permit confiscation: Look here

I think the situation could be a federal civil rights violation, but the feds have not done anything (though they still could).

The NRA is suing on behalf of the gun owners, and the city's failure to respond to court orders is appalling. There's a good chance someone might get tossed in jail for contempt.

- Jim

Texican_gal wrote:I would assume that the state police would arrest them, or the FBI. But I don't know why this didn't happen.

Police can arrest someone only when they observe a crime or have reasonable suspicion that the person just committed a felony ("smoking gun").

After the incident is over, a prosecutor needs to obtain an arrest warrant and possibly a grand jury indictment.

As I said in the preceding message, no state prosecutor is likely to get involved. I can't say why the feds didn't.

Texican_gal wrote:If the police dept. violated another right saying, "Women can't vote in this election," and turned women away from the polls, who would do the arresting here? Wouldn't that be federal bad ju-ju? Federal powers should have acted on the citizen assault and gun theft too.

That kind of thing results in federal lawsuits. It very rarely results in criminal prosecution.

I'm not saying this is right; it's just the way it is, many times.

- Jim

Jim,

Thank you for the clarification in this somewhat confusing matter!

Oh yeah, I just had a thought ... when the gov't confiscated the land & property of the Cherokee (some of whom I'm related to), they didn't get that back, either. So we have precedents for this behavior, all right.

Governments can get away with murder and theft. That's why we need to keep them on a short leash.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:

stevie_d_64 wrote:"Theft by a Public Official"

The position of state and city officials is that Louisiana law allowed confiscation of firearms during emergencies. Given that position, it would be very unusual for a state or local prosecutor to bring charges.

Arguably, the law did not permit confiscation: Look here

I think the situation could be a federal civil rights violation, but the feds have not done anything (though they still could).

The NRA is suing on behalf of the gun owners, and the city's failure to respond to court orders is appalling. There's a good chance someone might get tossed in jail for contempt.

- Jim

I totally understand what you are saying here...

That being the case...IF (and thats a biggy, and don;t think I am excusing this or trying to give "officials" any ideas)

If you are going to do something like this, wouldn;t you think that every single measure to record, tag, secure any form of private property seized for any reason by the government would be made to ensure the safe and viable condition of said property back to the owners would be implemented???

The methods employed by the state and local officials during this crisis was absolutely criminal, and they should be held accountable for it...If the State of Louisiana can't find a way to correct this, then unfortunately I think the Feds need to swing in here and scoop up the poop...

And if it was necessary (which I don;t think it ever is) in someones wet dream, to confiscate weapons in this situation, then I certainly would never allow out of state, or out of jursidiction LEO conduct this activity...

And if you don't have enough officers to do this, then tough!!! You don't do it!!!

But when all is said and done, it really looks like this may not happen again for these reasons and conditions...

We all know some entities are passing laws to keep this from being considered again...

But, I am a realist...I am not going to hold my breath in hopes that it won't be tried somewhere else for some reason...

stevie_d_64 wrote:If you are going to do something like this, wouldn;t you think that every single measure to record, tag, secure any form of private property seized for any reason by the government would be made to ensure the safe and viable condition of said property back to the owners would be implemented???

You and I would; but then we wouldn't be seizing weapons from law-abiding people in the first place.

I think people who have to deal with an emergency sometimes "lose it" in terms of common sense and legality. That's the kindest thing I can say about this situation. The city government should admit that they screwed up during a chaotic period, and make amends. They haven't.

All of the above is a lesson in why we need checks and balances in government. I'm not a fan of unrestrained federal authority, but sometimes the federal courts are a useful avenue when the locals are out of control.

- Jim

Absolutely!!!

Thank God for Bush. Pray that we don't get too many Anti's in office, or this discussion is null.

I am glad this is starting to get more attention- it just kills me that the main media outlets are not covering any of this. This is a HUGE outrage, lack of judgement, abuse of power, beauraucracy at it's worst, etc, etc, and I've heard no one outside of my gun-circles talk about it.

The whole gun confiscation thing makes me angry... but the lack of publicity for the rights of the people involved, the passing of this new (redundant) law, and the whole situation in general is just assanine!

bburgi wrote:I am glad this is starting to get more attention- it just kills me that the main media outlets are not covering any of this. This is a HUGE outrage, lack of judgement, abuse of power, beauraucracy at it's worst, etc, etc, and I've heard no one outside of my gun-circles talk about it.

The whole gun confiscation thing makes me angry... but the lack of publicity for the rights of the people involved, the passing of this new (redundant) law, and the whole situation in general is just assanine!

Its always been in the back of my mind...And that place is getting crowded with the stuff I keep on simmer back there...

Not that I am criticizing any efforts so far...But you'd think with all the Pro-2nd Amendment folks we have poking around D.C. you think a U.S. Attorney somewhere would be making a few people sweat tiddly-winks with a grand jury proceding and a few pending indictments looming...

That alone would give me a warm and fuzzy that someone was finally doing something to make this right...

We might not need states to pass a law to prevent this from even being considered an option ever again...

But thats just my crazy overstuffed head thinking again...