Martial Law was not legally called in Luisiana, for 1 reason. There is no state law that recognises martial law in LA.
However a state of emergency was called by the governor..................eventually.............
The rumors that persist comes from the mayor of New Orleans who nominally declared "Martial Law" in him saying that his officers did not have to abide by civil and maranda rights in stopping
looters. This has been disproportionated by the newspapers and what not, but infact atleast 5 officers have been found guilty of murder and other charges, after doing what they were told to do. It sent a ripple through the law enforcement community (my father in law is a chief of police in a city) that will be felt for many years to come. I fully expect to see some aftermath of these rulings this week LOL. police officers will NOT be so quick to react in the safety of civilians in trumatic curcumstances.
They will take more time in thier decisionmaking. Thier slowed responce will cost some of them thier lives, and the lives of people they need to protect.
In declaring state of emergency LA, Did infact "by thier laws" execute a "legal" means to disarm civilians. or atleast in thier opinions. The courts decided otherwise so I heard. I would have to look it up to be truthfull.
One must remember the chaos, looters, gangs and such. Law enforcement was in a door to door war, the average person could never understand.
Even though I believe in my gun rights, how can it be sorted in the middle of chaos. We had armed guards while we were working down there, shootins were every few minutes ( Could hear them in distance) I would not have been a cop down there for a million dollars a week.
The world will never know what happened down there with the gangs fighting for control of anything of value. But this week will be different. It will be happening to more upscale people who have means to get the word out.
I highly recomend for light reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_government_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina
I think it will be very informative to many.
but to fully answer your question. YES, after the president by executive order declares a national emergency, FEMA is the highest command of the land, and can, and will, use all resources, local, county, state federal law enforcement, as well as national guard and military through the the laws that have already been laid in place, make it illegal for civilians to posess firearms. Does it go against the constitution, absolutly, . That will not matter to the government trying to regain control of things gone so mad, that the next best solution would be the preservation of the rest of the country by simply bombing our own people.