Baton Rouge, La. – Amid complaints from gun-rights groups, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that it is reconsidering a ban on firearms at emergency housing parks built in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
“We’ve got attorneys who are looking at that as we speak and they’re trying to figure out who wrote the rules, what the intent was,” FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said.
The dispute arose at a nearly 600-trailer encampment that opened last week near Baton Rouge. Katrina evacuees will be allowed to stay there rent-free while they try to find permanent housing. Similar encampments are scattered across the hurricane zone, but this was the first big one to open.
FEMA said it has been general policy at the agency for several years to prohibit guns at such parks anywhere in the country.
But the National Rifle Association threatened to sue, and another gun-rights group, the Second Amendment Foundation, said it, too, was looking at legal action.
“Whether it’s a national disaster, whether it’s by nature like Katrina, or a flu pandemic or an earthquake, the Constitution can’t be thrown out the window,” said NRA leader Wayne LaPierre.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office had asked that guns be banned at the encampment because the trailers are close together and have thin walls, according to spokesman Deputy Fred Raiford.
