Retired OH Cop Outraged over New Orleans Gun Grab Footage
Date: Oct 2, 2005 10:43 AM
The New GUN WEEK. October 1, 2005
Page 4

Retired OH Cop Outraged over New Orleans Gun Grab Footage

by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

A retired police lieutenant from Cincinnati, OH, has
formally complained to the Department of Justice over what
he believes was a civil rights violation involving an
unidentified New Orleans woman who was brutally disarmed and
forced out of her home by police officers in a news report
from KTVU News that was broadcast repeatedly in the days
following the hurricane disaster.

Lt. Harry Thomas, a former member of the National Rifle
Association?s board of directors who retired from duty in
1995, stated in a complaint letter to the Justice
Department, ?To my utter astonishment, in full view of the
news camera, the lady was savagely attacked and beaten by a
burly police officer, and her handgun was taken from her
without her consent. She was then dragged away while
vehemently protesting that she did not wish to leave her
home.

?I spent my entire adult life in law enforcement, and I
have never seen or even heard of such an act of sheer
totalitarianism on the part of armed thugs masquerading as
law enforcement.”

Thomas also took issue with statements made to the press by
New Orleans Police Supt. Eddie Compass III, who was quoted
by The New York Times saying, ?No one is allowed to be
armed. We?re going to take all the guns. Only law
enforcement are allowed to have weapons.”

Thomas wrote that the idea of only police having guns ?is
not the law of this land, and … the ability of Americans
to be able to defend themselves is doubly imperative in
locations of natural disaster where government law
enforcement functions are paralyzed and nonexistent, such
as New Orleans has been in recent days.”

Pro-gun Internet chat forums have bristled in the wake of
the hurricane, sometimes because of oft-repeated news
reports that were occasionally embellished beyond fact.
Perhaps the most glaring example of such embellishment were
e-mails that accompanied the circulation of the news
footage. In a lengthy note that frequently ?explained” the
footage (Gun Week received several of these from different
sources) it was stated repeatedly that, ?the reporter says
its (sic) OK for the government to confiscate her firearms
and not give them back to her, even though she didn?t do
anything wrong.”

A careful review of the actual footage and reporter?s
voice-over remarks reveals that no such statement was made,
either by the reporter or the news anchor.

Thomas did not make that allegation in his letter. Instead,
his complaint was based on what he saw, and on his
experiences as a career law enforcement officer.

The incendiary news footage showed members of a California
Highway Patrol unit, detailed to assist New Orleans police
in restoring order to the city following days of anarchy.
Thomas correctly identified the officers as being from
California, where gun laws are far different than in
Louisiana.

?There is never a time in this country when a representative
of government, at any level, can enter the home of an
inoffensive citizen and demand the surrender of a firearm,”
Thomas wrote. ?To even voice such a demand constitutes
criminal conduct. To then make a violent assault on a
citizen who stands on her rights and refuses to submit to
such tyranny is an act so grotesque and despicable that it
defies my efforts to articulate it.”

Thomas concluded, ?As a concerned citizen of the United
States, I insist that this matter be investigated, not only
the home invasion robbery and kidnapping perpetrated by the
rogue members of the California Highway Patrol, but the
conspiracy to violate the civil rights of New Orleans area
gunowners that is clearly ongoing on the part of New Orleans
police officials. When the facts are verified, I further
insist on vigorous criminal prosecution at federal level of
the principals involved.”