Wednesday, October 12, 2005
FEMA reconsiders firearms ban in evacuee trailer park.

Link http://bizneworleans.com/109+M5c18c4ae477.html

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Under pressure from gun rights groups, FEMA said today it is reconsidering a ban on firearms at a trailer park established to temporarily house Hurricane Katrina victims. The dispute involves a nearly 600-trailer encampment that opened last week near Baton Rouge. Katrina evacuees will be allowed to stay there rent-free while they try to find permanent housing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has been general policy at FEMA for several years to prohibit guns at such parks anywhere in the country.

But the National Rifle Association threatened to sue, and another gun rights group, the Second Amendment Foundation, said it, too, was looking at legal action. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office had asked that guns be banned at the encampment because the trailers are close together and have thin walls. But FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said guns would have been prohibited even without the Sheriff's Office request.

Tuesday, October 4, 2005
FEMA suspends Phoenix's rescue team over firearms rule

Link http://www.dailystar.com/sn/hourlyupdate/96243.php

PHOENIX - The Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team has been suspended from a federal agency because it sent armed police officers to protect firefighters during the recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
At issue is a rule in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Code of Conduct that prohibits Urban Search and Rescue teams from having firearms.

Phoenix's team that deployed for Hurricane Katrina relief and again for Hurricane Rita included four police officers deputized as U.S. marshals. The team was credited with plucking more than 400 Hurricane Katrina survivors from rooftops and freeway overpasses in flooded sections of New Orleans.

Phoenix officials now are threatening to refuse some of the most dangerous deployments in the future or possibly even pull out of the federal agency altogether, unless the rules are changed to allow teams to bring their own security, even if that means police with guns.

Assistant Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan said his department also is questioning the federal agency's ability to manage working conditions, security and communications. "Our priority has to be the safety of the firefighters we're sending," Khan said.

Phoenix police were added to the team about a year ago, and officials say they are essential to protecting firefighters and FEMA's $1.4 million worth of equipment. Firefighters do not carry weapons.

"This is crazy," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said Monday. "This is a rule that was designed before the world changed, pre-9/11. You can't stand on bureaucracy if we're going to protect and save lives, and that's what these teams do."

FEMA relies on 28 elite teams like Phoenix's across the country to perform specialized rescue operations immediately after terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

After Hurricane Katrina, firefighters faced deployment to areas plagued by looting and lawlessness. Twice, Phoenix's team was confronted by law enforcement officers who refused to let them pass through their communities and told them to "get out or get shot," Gordon said. Phoenix's team was demobilized unexpectedly on Sept. 26 after members were seen embarking on a helicopter sortie with a loaded shotgun while assigned to help with the aftermath of Rita. In a letter to Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini dated Sept. 29, FEMA said Phoenix was placed on "non-deployment status" essentially for including armed police on the team without approval. Gordon has sent a letter to FEMA officials requesting that the Code of Conduct "be changed from an unrealistic 'No firearms allowed' to a common-sense 'No firearms allowed except for U.S. marshals integrated into the USAR team.'"

Friday, September 23, 2005
Major Victory For Firearms Owners And Freedom In Louisiana

Link http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/Releases.aspx?ID=6539

(Fairfax, VA) -- The United States District Court for the Eastern District in Louisiana today sided with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and issued a restraining order to bar further gun confiscations from peaceable and law-abiding victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. “This is a significant victory for freedom and for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The court’s ruling is instant relief for the victims who now have an effective means of defending themselves from the robbers and rapists that seek to further exploit the remnants of their shattered lives,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.

Joining LaPierre in hailing the U.S. District Court decision was NRA chief lobbyist Chris W. Cox. “This is an important victory. But the battle is not over. The NRA will remedy state emergency statutes in all 50 states, if needed, to ensure that this injustice does not happen again." The controversy erupted when The New York Times reported, the New Orleans superintendent of police directed that no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to have guns and that “only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons.” ABC News quoted New Orleans’ deputy police chief, saying, “No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons.” The NRA also pledged that it will continue its work to ensure that every single firearm arbitrarily and unlawfully seized under this directive is returned to the rightful law-abiding owner.