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A Vietnam veteran, former police officer and firefighter is suing the Los Angeles Police Department after they seized more than 300 of his firearms and destroyed them. Wayne Wright, 67, of Simi Valley, was arrested in 2004 in what the LAPD trumpeted as an “undercover gun buy operation,” but that Wright and his attorneys allege was entrapment.
After Wright was acquitted of every charge except the misdemeanor of owning a semi-automatic banned in California—for which he received probation, and which did not disqualify him from gun ownership—he should have gotten his guns back. Instead, LAPD destroyed the collection with an estimated worth of over $700,000.
Now Wright is suing the LAPD, alleging they violated his civil rights, as well as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, because they destroyed the guns to show that LAPD’s “Gun Unit” was effective and deserving of federal grant money.
After Wright was acquitted of every charge except the misdemeanor of owning a semi-automatic banned in California—for which he received probation, and which did not disqualify him from gun ownership—he should have gotten his guns back. Instead, LAPD destroyed the collection with an estimated worth of over $700,000.
Now Wright is suing the LAPD, alleging they violated his civil rights, as well as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, because they destroyed the guns to show that LAPD’s “Gun Unit” was effective and deserving of federal grant money.
