NRA to Settle Suit over Katrina Gun Seizures

10/8/2008, 3:53 p.m. EDT

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — City officials have agreed to return hundreds of firearms that police officers confiscated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, part of a deal to resolve a lawsuit filed by gun lobbying groups.

The settlement agreement filed Tuesday in federal court calls for the National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation to drop their case if the city follows a plan for returning guns to owners who had them seized by police after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Both sides also are asking U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to sign off on the pact and issue a permanent injunction barring the city from seizing lawfully possessed firearms. Barbier didn’t immediately rule on the agreement, which doesn’t involve a monetary award.

Commentary by Glen Wunderlich follows.

If you ever doubted that there are officials in power that would love to get citizens’ guns, the evidence is clear that you have been naive at best. The idea that honest people being robbed of the very essence of Second Amendment assurances, just when they needed protection most, is frightening.

If the NRA didn’t stand for freedom, who would have in this case?