What's the Big Deal?

I find it interesting that there is such objection to the confiscation of firearms in the city of New Orleans. I remember in the weeks and months following 9/11 the emergency services were vaunted, rightly so, as New York's Bravest and Finest. Today, almost 4 years to the day since so many of the American uniformed services risked and gave their lives to save innocents, many Americans balk at the idea that the New Orleans police force should be able to enforce Mayor Nagin's forced evacuation order against an unarmed public.

Let's look at the situation as it stands. The last voluntary evacuees left the city on Thursday, so logically the only citizens remaining in the city today are those who would resist evacuation, perhaps violently. OK, so the order to confiscate firearms from these people may be essentially unconstitutional, but then again so what? A third of the New Orleans police force bolted after the storm. Those who remain are the Bravest and Finest. These are people who remained to protect and serve the community in which they live - even when they came under fire themselves, even after their own homes were swept away in the storm. They deserve all the respect and support it is possible to give, and if that means that certain people temporarily sacrifice one of the freedoms they hold dear, then why not?

(Update) Volokh's Orin Kerr discusses the legalities behind the gun prohibition.