Was SAF/NRA Suit Cause of New Orleans Chief?s Firing?
Date: Sep 24, 2006 6:39 PM
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?3b8ed2ac-5116-48a9-8ce4-ce2832c9c5b1

Was SAF/NRA Suit Cause of New Orleans Chief?s Firing?
By Dave Workman, 9/24/2006 9:12:05 AM
Was former New Orleans Police Superintendent Edwin Compass fired because his publicly-announced gun confiscation policy resulted in a lawsuit against the city by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle Association (NRA)?

That seems to be the inadvertent admission of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in remarks he made to Dr. Phil McGraw on McGraw?s popular syndicated talk show late last month. Gun Week obtained a transcript of conversations McGraw had with Nagin and with Compass, in which the former lawman insisted he was fired.

Nagin, however, portrayed it differently, telling McGraw, ?Eddie was showing some signs that he was having a very difficult time towards the end of dealing with the tragedy and he was breaking down on a fairly regular basis in public. I had ordered him to stand down and to take it easy for a minute and get away from the cameras. At first he resisted pretty strongly. He said, ?Look, I?m going to go ahead and retire.? If he would have said to me at that meeting, ?Look, I got it. I agree with you and I?m going to abide by your orders,? Eddie would still be police chief.?

McGraw, according to the transcript, then asked Nagin, ?He (Compass) said that you were concerned about image and that you criticized him for showing emotion including on my show. You know, when I asked you about it and we talked before, I said, ?Was he fired?? and you said, ?No, he wasn?t fired.? And I said, ?If he hadn?t wanted to quit, he would still be here?? and you said, ?Yes, he would have.? ?

Responding, Nagin said this: ?And I still stand by that. But he had to agree to step down because we were starting to get lawsuits.?

McGraw asked, ?What kind of comments were bringing lawsuits??

And Nagin replied, ?Well, he made a comment about something with guns and the NRA fired up. And it was just a comment that kind of got us in trouble.??

The ?comment? at the center of this firestorm was Compass? announcement that nobody other than law enforcement would be allowed to have guns. He was quoted by various news organizations declaring, ?No one is allowed to be armed. We?re going to take all the guns.?

What followed was a stunning series of gun seizures from law-abiding citizens, sometimes at gunpoint, that prompted SAF and NRA to join forces and file a landmark federal lawsuit that brought the gun grab to a screeching halt.

In his remarks to McGraw, Compass stated, ?Well, a lot of people asked me (why he left). The mayor, he told me, said I?ve done a great job for the city but he didn?t think I could do anymore for the police department. I was.??

?So you got fired,? McGraw interjected.

?Yeah,? Compass replied.

Later, Compass told McGraw, ?Like I always said, if you?re going to be a real leader, a real leader has to take the hit. And I had to take the hit for the department because you could?could you imagine the problems the department would have with half the people being loyal to me? And for the record, I want everyone to know I have no hard feelings against the mayor. I have no problems with the mayor. It?s his prerogative to hire and fire who he wants. You know, the truth has to come because it?s too long, and I need to get some closure with this.?

SAF and NRA are still in court against New Orleans, over the city?s refusal to agree to a permanent injunction. The city has also been dragging its feet on the return of hundreds of confiscated firearms that are being held in a storage facility. For months, the city had insisted that officers had not seized firearms, but when SAF and NRA went to court to push a motion for contempt against Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley, who had been Compass? deputy chief, the city admitted that it did have ?some guns.?

Now, one year after the lawsuit was filed, both gun rights groups are still pursuing the lawsuit, but a signal appears to have been sent across the country that in the wake of a natural or man-made disaster, law enforcement will not be trying to confiscate firearms. Several states have passed legislation to prohibit such confiscations, including Louisiana.

Dave Workman is the Senior Editor of GunWeek.com