RILEY BACKS DOWN ON NEW ORLEANS GUN GRAB AFTER SAF CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

For Immediate Release:   6/6/2006

BELLEVUE, WA – Within two hours of an announcement that the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was calling for a Justice Department investigation of New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley’s plan to confiscate guns again if a major storm hits the city this year, SAF learned that Riley has backed off.

“Somehow,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Earlier this year, as our attorneys were about to enter a motion for contempt against Riley and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in federal court, the city finally admitted that it did have hundreds of seized firearms in its possession. That came after months of denial the city had taken guns from anybody.

“Now, days after Riley told a New Orleans radio station that he was planning another gun grab,” Gottlieb continued, “we have him suddenly back pedaling almost immediately after we announce our complaint to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“We know that since his announcement Friday on WWL-AM about the plans to confiscate firearms, the station has been getting a very negative public reaction toward the police chief,” Gottlieb noted. “Whether his remarks on Friday were some sort of trial balloon just to gauge public sentiment, or whether he was serious, our decision to file a complaint with the Justice Department was equally serious, if not moreso.

“For months, we and the National Rifle Association, who was our partner in the lawsuit against the city, were stonewalled, ignored and lied to about the post-Katrina gun confiscations,” Gottlieb said. “After Riley’s statement on Friday, SAF decided that enough was enough. Two weeks ago, we warned the city that we would be watching for this sort of thing. Our letter to the Attorney General stands, because we want Riley, and anybody else who considers gun grabs to be a good idea, to understand that we’re simply not kidding around.

“We warned the city that we would adopt a zero tolerance policy about these illegal gun grabs,” Gottlieb concluded, “and we meant it.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

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