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Edited from reports by Melanie Hunter and Jeff Johnson of CNSNews.com

A federal judge  issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of two Second

Amendment rights groups ending the seizure of firearms from citizens in and around New Orleans.

U.S. District Judge Jay Zaney issued the restraining order September 23 against New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Chief Edwin Compass III.  The lawsuit was brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association.

SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb said not only did residents of New Orleans lose "virtually everything" in Hurricane Katrina, they were also essentially "stripped" of their right to self-defense.

"SAF and NRA had no alternative but

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to take action," said Gottlieb. Otherwise, the gun seizures "would have set a dangerous precedent that would have encouraged authorities in other jurisdictions to believe they also could suspend the civil rights of citizens in the event of some other emergency."

Gottlieb challenged New Orleans authorities to explain how they will promptly "return all of those firearms to their rightful owners." He said the ruling "affirms that even in the face of great natural disasters, governments cannot arbitrarily deprive citizens of their rights."

After Katrina hit, few people objected when police began gathering firearms they found in abandoned New Orleans homes, to prevent them from falling into the hands of criminals. But one gun policy expert says confiscating guns from law abiding citizens who remain in the city is increasing the danger posed by criminals.
New Orleans Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass III  told the Washington Post Sept. 9 "No one will be able to be armed," "Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns."

John Lott, resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws," told Cybercast News Service that he is "very disappointed" with the decision by New Orleans leaders.

"The question is, 'Are the police there able to protect people?' And I think he would have to be one of the first to acknowledge that the police simply aren't capable of protecting the people who are there," Lott said. "It would be nice if the police were available to go and protect everybody, but they're not." "They just weren't able to  and many people were falling victim to criminals." Lott argued, "You had roving gangs going around and it's not really clear what else you would have advised someone to do other than having a gun for protection."

Lott said he is also disappointed that police appear to be engaging in "selective" gun confiscation. After Compass expanded the original order, the New York Times

reported that it didn't seem to apply to private security guards and some of the city's wealthier residents.

Lott said the police are "running a real risk" by taking away the only protection some New Orleans residents have from criminals. "There are obviously bad people there who have guns. But, to take away the guns from the law abiding citizens - so that they can't protect themselves from those same people that the police are worried about - I don't think makes much sense," Lott concluded. "You're going to end up creating more victims and easier targets for criminals to attack."

A number of pro-gun groups blasted the gun confiscations as "unconstitutional," "illegal" and, even, "the sin of arrogance." Some wondered why law enforcement resources were being used to search for guns in unoccupied homes when there are still people who need help.

Gottlieb, who also represents the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), is demanding a federal investigation of the actions.

"I also want to know under just what authority New Orleans officials are confiscating lawfully-owned firearms from law-abiding citizens," Gottlieb said in a press statement. "Where does it say that the state and federal Constitutions can be nullified, even briefly, simply because of a hurricane? In every other natural disaster this country has ever faced, people retain their civil rights, including the right of self-defense, but New Orleans and Louisiana state officials have added the sin of arrogance to incompetence and negligence for which they must be held accountable when this is over."

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), said the civil disorder in New Orleans is "exactly the kind of situation where the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens to protect themselves.

"When law enforcement isn't available, Americans turn to the one right that protects all the others -- the right to keep and bear arms," LaPierre said in a media release. "This attempt to repeal the Second Amendment should be condemned."

Louisiana law allows officials to "regulate possession" of firearms during a declared emergency, but the NRA's chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, argued that "regulation" and "confiscation" were not the same in the eyes of the law.

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