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Following the announcement that the ACLU Foundation of Louisiana is suing the city of New Orleans, the New Orleans District Attorney and the New Orleans Chief of Police for refusing to return a firearm it took from a citizen, Marjorie Esman, Executive Director of the ACLU Foundation and the ACLU of Louisiana is scheduled to appear on this Sunday's edition of "Tom Gresham's Gun Talk," the only national radio talk show about firearms.
"I know that some gun owners have a particular viewpoint about the ACLU," said Gresham, "but this group has stood for individual rights for years. They have, unfortunately, been MIA on the Second Amendment, but that may be changing. The Louisiana ACLU has supported citizen's gun rights in the past, and this case, involving New Orleans, is important. Gun owners remember the widespread and illegal confiscation of privately-owned firearms by New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Reports continue about NOPD currently taking guns from motorists when the driver can not immediately produce a receipt or proof of purchase."
The current case involves Erroll Houston, Jr., who has a concealed carry permit. He was arrested, but later the charges were dropped. When he tried to get his firearm returned, the district attorney's office refused.
"For the government to keep property that someone is legally entitled to own, there must be good cause, and the owner is entitled to due process," said ACLU Executive Director Marjorie R. Esman. "Mr. Houston has done nothing wrong. There are no criminal charges against him. His firearm, which he is and was entitled to carry, has been confiscated for no reason. It is past time for NOPD and the District Attorney to return it."
According to Gresham, this is just the latest in a long string of issues with the NOPD and legal firearms owners.
"It's encouraging to see the ACLU, which has always fought for the rights of the individual, getting behind the Second Amendment and gun rights," said Gresham. "Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the Second Amendment as an individual right in the Heller opinion, perhaps we'll see the ACLU helping gun owners across the country."
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