New Orleans residents get their guns back

Well, maybe sorta. The following is the text of an announcement I received via email from The Second Amendment Foundation:

SAF has negotiated an agreement with New Orleans regarding the firearms seized from lawful firearm owners during and after Hurricane Katrina. The issue is pending before the federal court in the case NRA & SAF v. Mayor Ray Nagin.

On March 15, 2006, lawyers for both sides informed the court that positive settlement negotiations were occurring. New Orleans has now confirmed that it holds a number of firearms and that owners of firearms which may have been confiscated may contact the Property and Evidence division of the New Orleans Police Department in any of the following ways:

1. Telephone number 504-658-5503
2. Mailing address:
   New Orleans Police Department
   Property and Evidence
   400 North Jefferson Davis Parkway
   New Orleans, LA 70119
3. Go in person to the same address. This is where the firearms are located.

Please be patient inasmuch as records are incomplete and the police are currently understaffed. Records are most accessible if you can supply your gun'’s serial number. Claims can be made based on proof of ownership or, lacking such documents, an affidavit that the item belongs to you.

For those who go through the above process, whether successful or unsuccessful, SAF would be interested in hearing your comments on what occurred. Please contact SAF at (425) 454-7012 or send an e-mail to: AdminForWeb@saf.org

The part I find most interesting is what you get by reading between the lines. Since using the serial number is the fastest way to find a given gun, the implication seems to be that the New Orleans cops just grabbed whatever guns they saw with out any sort of record keeping.

Draw your own conclusions on what that means.

I suspect this isn't over. Anyone care to place a bet on how many people are refused the return of their guns because they can't prove that they actually owned the gun in question?

Now for the good news

(Courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation)

I'm sure my fellow gunnies remember New Orleans' little problem with the Second Amendment, in which the privately owned firearms of New Orleans citizens were confiscated shortly after Hurricane Katrina.

Well, the Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter and won. Part of the settlement was an order to return the confiscated firearms to their rightful owners. New Orleans, in typical corrupt fashion, denied that any gun confiscations had ever happened--incriminating TV footage not withstanding.

So the SAF and the NRA filed a motion to get the city, the mayor and the police chief held in contempt.

Interestingly, The Big Sleazy suddenly had the revelation that, why darn, they really did confiscate over 1,000 guns, and have been storing them in the city.

Better yet:

Under an agreement with the court, the hearing on the contempt motion has been continued for two weeks, the attorneys said. During that time, according to Holliday and fellow attorney Stephen Halbrook, the city will establish a process by which the lawful owners of those firearms can recover their guns.

This is good news, but I don't think it's enough. They ought to have to deliver them to the lawful owners, along with a sincere apology. Then they need to bend over and hold that position while those lawful owners give them a swift kick in the ass, just as a reminder.

Facing the unexplained

I'm not particularly religious (not in the conventional sense of going to church and such) but I think God has sent me an abject lesson in faith.

My wife's grandmother died late last night at 96. Her health had been slowly failing for years, and she'd outlived every MD's expectations. She was mostly aware and alert up until a few hours before her death.

She told one of her grandkids that her son had visited her earlier in the day and told her the next time he came back, he'd be taking her home.

(You see this coming, don't you?)

Her son died of cancer in 1998.

Still laughing

A couple of day ago I posted a bit on this past weekend's advice from the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and their advice to start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under the bed.

A poster on Timebomb 2000 has pointed out this story that has more details on Secretary Mike Leavitt's call to the sheeple to stop bleating "baa baa" and start doing something (no matter how silly or ludicrous it may appear to the more knowledgeable) to take care of themselves in the event of an emergency.

I'll take back some of my earlier derision, as the longer article does note that you need to store water and even points out the need to store food and more water for your pets. He also notes that there may be power failures, and points out the need for battery powered radios an TVs, and he remembers the toilet paper.

Of course, the advice for "what to do if the flu is in your house" is pretty poor:

"The first thing is to strengthen your hand washing and to have the infected family member cover his mouth when he coughs," she said. "You should also keep that person isolated in a certain part of the house and identify a family member who will help him. You may have to take turns."

Carnival of Cordite #51

Countertop does an excellent job with the Carnival of Cordite this week. To put it in his words:

"...your one stop shop for gunny blogging goodness."

The (Potential) Surveillance State Takes One in the Eye

The Register is reporting that RFID tags can be infected with a virus. I'll bet money if they can be infected with a virus that they can also be reprogrammed as well. Hackers and privacy freaks, let the games begin!

Don't mess with Momma Bear

A bad guy learns that messing with a mother protecting her kids is a Bad Idea.

Result: One dead Bad Guy, no charges filed against Momma Bear.

Here's another article with pictures.

Bruce Sterling speaks

Many of you know Bruce Sterling as a science fiction author, and that's true enough. He's also an incredible observer of the world. Agree or disagree with his positions and his politics, if you don't see that, well, you're just blind.

At the South by Southwest Conference, he made the following observation in his closing speech:

"If I've learned anything from hanging out with the Eastern European dissident crowd," he said, "it's make no decision out of fear."

People, those are words of formidable wisdom.

Forgive me for laughing

(Via Drudge)

Do you know how hard it is to write a blog entry when you're laughing so hard that your eyes tear up? You're typing stinks and you can't see the screen because it's all blurry.

It's all because of this article: Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America

When you move in some of the circles I do, this is not even old news--it's more like been there, done that news--and that's why it's so funny. I mean, this is like plastic sheets and duct tape funny:

In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.

(I broke up all over again just cutting and pasting that single sentence.)

Where do you start to fix that statement? If this is the best our government can recommend, then it's small wonder things are so screwed up in the country.

But enough poking fun. Let's be useful for a moment. Here's "The Freeholder's Nickel Guide to Surviving a Bird Flu Outbreak" (or whatever other interesting disaster life upchucks all over you like a cat barfing up a big nasty hairball on your carpet):

1. If the feces hits the air handler, the government isn't going to come rescue you, or at least they won't won't do it anytime soon. Be ready to fend for yourself.
   
2. Store the food that you and your family eat. You need 3 months minimum; more is better. Note: having things that need refrigeration is a Bad Idea.
   
3. Store water and water purification tools. 1 gallon per person per day is the absolute minimum, and that doesn't get you water for bathing or flushing. Keep a week's worth on hand; more is better.
4. Store items for personal sanitation, such as going #1 & #2, bathing and so on.
   
5. Be prepared to defend yourself. Those who have not prepared will be very demanding on those who have. Note: a phone with 911 programmed into it does not meet this requirement.
6. Have alternative methods for lighting, heating and cooking. The power may not be on when you need it the most.
7. A special preparation for infectious diseases is having masks, various sorts or sanitizers and disinfectants and so on.

Folks, this is Surivialism 101. If you're not up on this, Google can help you out, as can some of the links (especially to Frugal Squirrels' place) over on the left. Good luck, because you're now playing catch up.