SECOND AMENDMENT“KRISTALLNACHT”

It was a watershed event in theworld of gun politics. For the firsttime in the history of the UnitedStates, armed representatives of thecivil authority made an organized,

concerted effort to disarm thecivilian populace—and no

one said a thing.

“THEY CAN’T DO THAT!”Many Americans entertain a

Pollyanna attitude towards gunrights.

“After all,” they say, “you knowOUR police would never do some-

thing like that…”Thus, when these folks

find out about “The En-lightenment”, that iswhat really occurredin New Orleans

after Hurricane Katrina—they areshocked, disgusted, and rendered al-most speechless.

For instance, after witnessing theinfamous Patty Konie tape describedbelow, they frequently blurt out:“They can’t do that!”

But they did.

KATRINA’S FURYOn 29 August 2005, New Orleans

was slapped backward into a19th century ex-

istence by thehowlingfury of Hur-ricane Kat-

4 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

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By Gordon Hutchinson

Captured-The Only Cold Beer InTown...was at Kajun’s Bar. Jo AnnGuidos and her merry band ofmalcontents stuck it out and keptthe looters at bay. Every businessfor blocks up and down St. ClaudeAvenue was looted and gutted.But Kajun’s stayed open, guardedby the tough owner and her 12gauge Remington.

rina, the most destructive hurricaneever to strike the American coastline,and one of the top five strongest hur-ricanes to ever build in the Atlanticbasin.

In the reeling aftermath of thestorm, with 80 percent of the cityflooded, some cops, feds, and Na-tional Guard units used the completebreakdown of civil order as an excuseto harass, intimidate, and physicallyabuse private citizens.

And, they confiscated thousands ofguns, leaving law-abiding residentsof the city with no means of self de-fense against bands of thugs and loot-ers roaming the streets at night.

It was a warped attempt at solvingthe problem of the criminal element—akin to burning the barn (and thelivestock) to kill the rats.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS GONEWITH THE STORM

Not only did authorities in NewOrleans violate the 2nd amendmentsright to keep arms, they trashed theprotection of free speech (the 1st) andthe right to be safe and secure in one’shome without fear of forced entry bythe authorities (the 4th).

The largely anti-gun mass medialargely ignored these violations. Afterall, why would these people needguns? Certainly the police had theright to disarm them. We must keepthese guns out of the hands of crimi-nals, right?

BAD BOYS WITH BADGESYou should expect certain contin-

gents of your law enforcement com-munity will take the law into theirown hands in the event of a severecivil emergency, and might well beexpected to seize firearms and per-sonal property in the name of re-es-tablishing order.

A law enforcement career attractscertain individual types. Most cops

(and soldiers) are strong-willed, take-charge, action-oriented guys whoenjoy the rush of action; they love tobe in the middle of the fray, and areadrenaline junkies. They are also gen-erally people with a strong sense ofcivic duty, and a highly developedblack and white sense of right andwrong. These are good people to haveout there on the front lines when Hellarrives in the proverbial Handbasket.

Unfortunately, because of the op-portunity for control andpower in such jobs, the ca-reer choice also attracts bul-

lies—who can be very hard to iden-tify when extreme action is requiredon a moment’s notice.

But when the stuff hits the fan andchaos reigns, as it did for weeks afterthe hurricane in New Orleans, thereare no restraints to contain these bul-lying tendencies. Thus some copsturned into thugs in uniforms.

IT CAN HAPPEN IN YOUR TOWN

You think we exaggerate? You thinkit wouldn’t happen in your town? Byyour cops?

MS PERVEL’S ALGIERS POINT MILITIAVinnie Pervel headed up the Algiers Point Mili-tia, a band of citizens and homeowners in theenclave known as Algiers Point, directly acrossthe Mississippi River from the French Quarterand downtown New Orleans. They formed “FortPelican” by blockading both ends of PelicanStreet with trees and storm detritus, and stoodwatch at night on the second story porch of Vin-nie’s home in the middle of the block.They hung cans with rocks and bottles as noise-makers to warn them of someone trying to crawlthrough the barricades and loot at night. Whenthey heard the sounds, they would touch wiresto car batteries and light up the street with can-nibalized auto headlights, shouting they wouldshoot anyone who came through the barri-cade.A group of the militia got into a gun battleone day with three thugstrying to tear the barricade down. One ofthe thugs was killed and arunning fight ensued as the other two randown the middle of Pelican Avenue,shoot-ing back at the militia. They stopped andpointed their guns at “Ms.P,” Vinnie’smother, who was standing on the frontporch of Vinnie’s house as they ran by.

WE THOUGHT KATRINA HADSTOLEN THE MOON The shooting and noise was so bad the firstfew nights, “It sounded like Vietnam,” Vinniesaid. It was so dark and eerie, “We thoughtKatrina had stolen the moon.”

The militia became media darlingsthrough the power of the internet and televi-sion interviews. One Midwestern fan heardof “Ms. P” and her practice of sleeping in her bed every night “with a rosary and a.38.” He had a t-shirt designed for her and later mailed it to her.

Ms. Pervel is shown here proudlydisplaying her t-shirt souvenir of theKatrina Wars.

An attorney from the New Orleans City Attorney’s office has opened thedoor of a rental truck parked next to the NOPD evidence and property facil-ity. Shown are 800 guns, only part of the thousands of guns stolen throughconfiscation from the residents of New Orleans by law enforcement. This pic-ture was taken on April 18, 2007, almost 20 months after the hurricane. Overa year-and-a-half was spent in court battles by the NRA and Second Amend-ment Foundation trying to gain access to these guns to gain an inventoryand attempt to return them to their rightful owners.

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Ask Buell Teel and his brother. They were illegally stopped,

searched at gunpoint, and had theirpersonal firearms taken from themwhile travelingacross LakePontchartrain lessthan two weeks afterthe storm. Itamounted to littlemore than armedrobbery by cop.

In this case, thecops were St. Tam-many Parish WaterPatrol Deputies,along with two NewYork police dressedout in black raidgear, toting AR-15style rifles. The rifleswere pointed at theTeel brothers’ chests, their boat wasboarded, and their deer rifles takenfrom hard cases and confiscated.

BAD COPS RUN WILDPatty Konie, an elderly and slight

woman, refused to evacuate from herMagazine Street home because shedid not want toleave her dogs.When CaliforniaHighway Patrolofficers camebanging on herdoor, it was a littleover a week afterthe storm. She hadplenty of food andwater, she wasbothering no one,and certainly was-n’t any sort of drain on the practicallynon-existent city support system.

But when the CHiPs showed upand started arguing with her that sheneeded to leave, she told them shecould take care of herself; she hadhardly seen anyone, let alone anylooters. And besides, she had a gun—an old Colt Police Positive revolver.When she showed it to the linebacker-sized troopers, they kicked her screendoor off the hinges and forced theirway into her home. When she de-manded they leave her home, theyjumped on her using a violent take-down maneuver, shattering one ofher teeth, and fracturing her shoulderin three places. The entire attack was

caught on tape by a news crew, andthe brutal assault on Patty Konie hascome to signify what can happenwhen bad cops take over and run

wild.It would be easy to

consider the hun-dreds of similar inci-dents that occurredin New Orleans afterthe storm as simplyan aberration—anunlucky crossing ofdark stars whichproduced a mad-house of unruly be-havior by cops thatmatched the anti-so-cial acts of the thugsand looters theywere supposed to bechasing.

IT CAN HAPPEN AGAINUnfortunately, too many indicators

point to another truth. It could easilyhappen again.

The most likely candidate would beNew Orleans, of course. On June 2,2006, in an interview with WWL

radio in New Or-leans, upon beingtold that GovernorBlanco had signedinto law a newLouisiana statutethat prohibited lawenforcement fromconfiscatinglegally-ownedfirearms during thetime of a civilemergency, current

Superintendent of Police WarrenRiley made the following comment:

“During circumstances like that, wecannot allow people to walk thestreets carrying guns. As law enforce-ment officers, we will confiscate theweapon if the person is walkingdown the street, and they may be ar-rested.”

So the current chief of police inNew Orleans has stated in similar cir-cumstances, the police will again con-fiscate legally-owned firearms, nevermind that Louisiana citizens have theright to carry openly, can carry legallyin their cars, and can carry concealedwith a state-issued concealed carrypermit.

FEDERAL ACTIONOn 9 October, 2006, President

George Bush signed into law the“Disaster Recovery Personal Protec-tion Act.” This bill, introduced byLouisiana Senator David Vitter, andthen-Representative (now Governor)Bobby Jindal, protects gun owners’rights during times of emergency. Itpassed through Congress with mas-sive bi-partisan support (322-99 in theHouse, and 84-16 in the Senate, be-coming the largest margin of victoryever gained by any NRA-backedbill). So if it wasn’t illegal for them toconfiscate your guns under the Sec-ond Amendment during a civil emer-gency, it absolutely is illegal now, asspelled out under this new federallaw.

But the price of freedom is eternalvigilance. Be aware, and move to pro-tect what is yours. Write down andstore all the serial numbers and de-scriptions of your guns. Don’t believeit can’t (or won’t) happen again. Wemust never forget what happened inNew Orleans.

Gordon Hutchinson, one of the au-thors of “The Great New Orleans GunGrab,” put together a team of expertsand led them, along with Dan Holli-day,attorney for the NRA and SAF inthe inventory when the courts finallyforced New Orleans to grant access tothe guns. Several trips were neces-sary to build a database and inven-tory the guns, most of which were inrusted and filthy condition from hav-ing been stored in an uninsulatedtruck body for up to two years.

Part of the inventoried firearms heldby NOPD, this gun shows the effectsof salt water immersion

NRA and Second Amendment Foun-dation attorney Dan Holliday holds anantique Mauser pistol ruined bymonths of neglect.

Some of the guns confiscated andstored by NOPD were still in fairshape-if they were stainless,molded polymer, or had aluminumcomponents they fared better thanthe carbon steel guns, most ofwhich had rusted into useless-ness by the time of the inventory.

The Great Gun Grab Continued

6 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

SOFMAG.COM SEPTEMBER 2008 7

Ashton O’Dwyer is a NewOrleans admiralty lawyerwho knew a mandatoryevacuation order was

worth less than the paper it waswritten on-they can’t make youleave your house!

Ashton was a real thorn in theside of the authorities. Colorful,unafraid to speak his mind, heroundly criticized Mayor RayNagin, the police, Governor Kath-leen Blanco, and everyone involvedin the botched recovery in the after-math of the storm. 80% of New Or-leans’ surface area was coveredwith a muddy, toxic stew, and thepolice were running around ha-rassing everyone, trying to makethem leave.

THE EMPEROR OF THE“DUCHY OF KILNAMANAUGH”

Ashton gained international at-tention with his tirades againstthe

powers-that-be in the media.He famously seceded from thestate of Louisiana and the Union,forming his own country at hismansion on St. Charles Avenue.He called it the “Duchy of Kilna-manaugh” (the county his familyhad emigrated from in Ireland)and appointed himself head ofthe government, chief of thearmed forces, and protector ofthe peace. He famously stated if“they” came to take his guns,

and crossed his property lines,“there will be gunfire.”

SNATCHED OFF OF HIS DOORSTEP

Around September 19, 2005, Ash-ton was fed up. He drove to BatonRouge and filed a class action suitagainst the state and the city ofNew Orleans in defense of the dis-

placed citi-zens of NewOrleans.

That night,at midnight,he wassnatched fromhis doorstepby fourLouisianaState Trooperswho took himto a tempo-rary holdingfacility at theGreyhoundBus Station.

There, turned over to prisonguards, Ashton was slappedaround, pepper-sprayed numeroustimes, and when he wouldn’t stopprotesting the illegal arrest and bru-tal treatment, he was shot in thelegs 6 or 8 times with riot-controlbeanbag rounds. The last roundswere fired, pushing the barrel of theshotgun through the chain-link ofthe enclosure in which he was held.

BADGEREDINTO SUB-MISSION

Released at5:00 PM, 17hours after hisarrest, afterbeing kept in acage in theSeptember

sun all day, he hobbled out, nearlycrippled. One hematoma in histhigh became infected requiringmedical treatment, and lancing toallow drainage.

As Ashton later said, “They suc-ceeded. I shut up. If they’ll comesnatch you off your doorstep atmidnight, what won’t they do?”

Ashton’s lawsuit against the cityand state is pending.

The Great Gun Grab Continued

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Ashton was shotin the legs sixtimes by policewith riot controlbean bag guns.

A NEW ORLEANS ADMIRALTY LAWYER DARES TO CRITICIZE AUTHORITIES

An Outraged Citizen Makes Authorities SquirmBy Gordon Hutchinson