The National Rifle Association has hired private investigators to find hundreds of people whose firearms were seized by city police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to court papers filed this week.Looking at this article, you wouldn't want any governmental entity to just seize your guns and not allow you the opportunity to get them back. They are your property not much different than if seized your property for no good reason and after it was established that nothing justified them seizing it, they wouldn't give it back. Guns are property after all and hopefully property used by a very responsible person since guns aren't toys.
The NRA is trying to locate gun owners for a federal lawsuit that the lobbying group filed against Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley over the city's seizure of firearms after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
In the lawsuit, the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation claim the city violated gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and left them "at the mercy of roving gangs, home invaders, and other criminals" after Katrina.
The NRA says the city seized more than 1,000 guns that weren't part of any criminal investigation after the hurricane. Police have said they took only guns that had been stolen or found in abandoned homes.
NRA lawyer Daniel Holliday said investigators have identified about 300 of the gun owners and located about 75 of them. Some of them could be called to testify during a trial, he added.
"Finding these folks has been a nightmare," Holliday said. "That is really the guts of our case - to establish that there was indeed a pattern of the police going out and taking people's guns without any legal reason to do so."
In April 2006, police made about 700 firearms available for owners to claim if they could present a bill of sale or an affidavit with the weapon's serial number.
It makes sense to take a gun after they've been unclaimed and they're just lying around. Important since you know, you don't want anybody to claim a gun then turn around and use it to commit crimes. Still I hope those who are responsible law-abiding citizens will be able to re-claim their guns because they have an ally in the National Rifle Association.
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