Why did the Army National Guard unlawfully disarm innocent civilians during Hurricane Katrina?

Question

Some units of the Army National Guard were given illegal and unconstitutional orders to go door-to-door and confiscate the legally-owned firearms of law abiding gun owners! Are Soldier's completely unaware of the 4th Nuremburg Principle, which holds that it is ALWAYS a crime to carry out an order that one knows is illegal, and that it is one's absolute legal and moral obligation to refuse and disobey such orders. This is reinforced by the Supreme Court in decisions like Marbury v. Madison that states all laws contrary to the Constitution are Null and Void. Everyone in the Military takes an oath to uphold the constitution 1st.

Also it took a Federal Court to get involved and it stated that it IS UNLAWFUL to disarm law abiding citizens and ordered the disarming of citizens to stop ASAP.

Question: 1. For military personnel, would you have carried out this unlawful order or would you have questioned it?

2. Civilians how do you feel and what would you do if you were law abiding and a Soldier came to your door to take your weapons away from you?

3. Do you think the Governor and highest ranking military officer that ordered this should be prosecuted for violating there oath to the constitution and for breaking the Marbury v. Madison decision, which is a prosecutable offense?

Answer 1

if wasin that postion and i had orders to, yes i would!

simple as that

Answer 2

During hurrican katrina they were placed under martial law. which is a state in which all civil laws, rights and liberties are suspended and the military has direct rule.

Thus it was legal.

Answer 3

i would've refused orders.  sometimes you have to stand up for what's right. i'm certainly a gun-hugging supporter of the second ammendment.   besides, i feel sorry for the unfortunate individual who comes to my home with the intention of of confiscating my legal, registered firearms;)

this, of course is in response to what was stated with the question... i, however, wasn't there, and can't really say...  i suppose i might have a more educated opinion once i return from Fort Leonard Wood.

Answer 4

I'm not going to go into some long disertation concerning your question.  I'll say this, WE (82nd AB Infantry), we told to confiscate weapons in abandoned homes because there were several street gangs and generally unruly people going in and collecting them for their own use.  There were several people that were robbed, uh the good people, so they advised us to go in and confiscate all weapons until the chaos was under control.  We did, and numbered every single one of them, afterwards promptly returning them to their owners.  There is no official registration program in the state of La, so there was no way to tell if someone was using a stolen gun or not...thus us numbering and registering them before returning them.  In conclusion, don't speak of what you don't know as you sound like the typical liberal fanatic looking for assistance from the ACLU.  Know your facts before you run your mouth.

Also be advised that under Martial Law we(the Military) ARE the law and therefore do not have to comply with other niceties when performing our duties.  We were sent to protect the public...that is what we did.

*EDIT* The term "Martial Law" was not unitlized during Katrina...however there was a "Police State" imposed.  By definition they are the same thing when imposed by the US Govt. Martial Law is usually imposed by the State Govt.  There is no Martial Law in La's constitution which is why the term Police State was used in lieu of Martial Law.  Again, lack of knowledge of a subject.

Answer 5

I disagree completely with them taking guns from legal owners, but when I was down there, it was a complete #$%@ storm of c**p going on and hard to decifer who was innocent and who wanted to have shoot-outs with the National Guard.

Circumstances were far different in this case than just going to a random neigborhood in the USA and asking for guns from legal owners. There were several shoot-outs between US Army troops and Katrina victims, and guess what, the US Army won out each time(newsflash).

I own dozens of guns, WHY? because I can and I love guns and people would burn their hands on my gun barrels trying to take them away from me as I would be shooting until the end. I will die before I give up my guns.

Overall, this is compete BS to do this the legal gun owners, but it was a complete disaster upon arrival there and after a couple shoot-outs with civilians, nobody was messing around and asking for papers in these neighborhoods. I for one, would not carry out this out as a military member if I had proof these people were legal gun owners, but if I wasnt for sure, I would take them until I found out they are legal to own a gun, adn anyone with any common sense of securing an area would agree. I am sure you as your name states you are an OIF Vet, you would understand.

I do agree with your stance(100%), and think it was BS, but can see why in this case it happened.

Answer 6

even thought I disagree with what they done.....to answer your question a good soldier follows orders and they were given orders to do it and I am a vet and had I been given an order by a superior officer I would follow it......   .....it is not the place of an enlisted solder to make policy.....the brass gives orders we follow them.........now had they ordered me to fire on US citizens then that I would not do....I would take a court martial before firing on US citizens

Answer 7

All it takes is the president of the united states to decree martial law and your right are revoked. Go to the link listed here and you will learn a great deal more about how we have fragile civil liberties in this country and yours can be taken away at anytime.

Answer 8

When a catastrophe like that occurs then military forces need to keep everyone in civil order and so there is no people that would take advantage and run throughout the streets armed and stealing from abandoned stores and shops.