GA city proposes mandatory gun ownership
Ex-PH2 sends a link from the Huffington Post in regards to the city of Nelson, Georgia which is considering a law which would make gun ownership mandatory for it’s residents. Not that there’s any punishment to force families to own a gun, felons are exempted as well as households that object to a gun;
Councilman Duane Cronic, who sponsored the measure, said he knows the ordinance won’t be enforced but he still believes it will make the town safer.
“I likened it to a security sign that people put up in their front yards. Some people have security systems, some people don’t, but they put those signs up,” he said. “I really felt like this ordinance was a security sign for our city. Basically it was a deterrent ordinance to tell potential criminals they might want to go on down the road a little bit.”
The city council’s agenda says another purpose of the measure is “opposition of any future attempt by the federal government to confiscate personal firearms.”
Well, it might make local criminals think twice before they commit a property crime.
Category: Guns
You may remember many years back when Oak Park, Illinois made national headlines for passing an ordinance banning all firearms within their city.
In response, Kennesaw, Georgia enacted an ordinance requiring the head of each household be armed.
Within a week, all burglaries in Kennesaw, Georgia ceased, as the burglars relocated their nefarious activities to neighboring communities.
@1, John R. M., Yes, indeed. And to this day, the per capita Violent Crime Rate in Kennesaw, GA continues to be at rock bottom!
Friend of mine recently moved to Georgia and applied for his CCW. He was amazed at how quickly he was able to obtain the license. He told me he asked the clerk if all CCW’s have this quick of a turn around to which the clerk responded “ Welcome to America!”.
I think it should be “optional with reward for ownership” vs “punishment for not owning”.
Back years ago my stepdad was friends with a guy they called the Wild Man in Kennesaw, we lived near Kennesaw Mountain and I remember him wearing two civil war era revolvers on his hip. Cool guy, wish I could remember his name but I was 10 years old and that was decades ago.
This is Georgia, where the only real requirements for a CCW are (1) want one; (2) get fingerprinted; (3) not be a felon. You dont’ have to take a class. You don’t have to fire a weapon. In fact, you don’t even have to own a weapon. Mainly, you just have to want one.
@4 – There’s no punishment for not owning if the homeowner objects to being required to buy a gun. It is, as the city council says, meant with the object of deterring criminals more than anything else.
Susan – that makes Texas sound overly strict.
I have seen follow-ups on this… Oak Park and Kennesaw pretty much reverted to average for their areas over time. Think it shows that possession encouragement or bans have little overall impact on crime rates, compared with other factors like prosecutions, poverty, demographics, etc.
@5: His name is Dent Myers; he runs a Civil War surplus store in downtown Kennesaw. They have a website if you want to look it up (I don’t want to post an advertisement on Jonn’s blog without his permission).
@9 Thats right! I’m sure he would remember my stepdad even thought he passed back in the 80’s.
@4: Such as a property tax break for owning one, since theoretically they would be lowering the cost of police protection?
#11 DocStew,
That’s the broad idea I had in mind.
How would they know who owns and who does not without registration?
I have to chuckle about this law, I live in Georgia. I would bet a months salary that just about 99.9% of the people in Nelson, GA already has a firearm. We don’t need a permit to own a firearm here. We can even carry in our cars without one as they are considered an extension of our property.
@13 in Georgia, especially outside of Metro Atlanta, one always assumes the home owner has a firearm. The idiot from Atlanta that came out to Loganville found that out the hard way.
BTW, just saw on the news he plead guilty and begged for mercy from the court. On top of getting shot in the face, mouth and neck he was sentenced to 10 yrs. I live in Walton Cty. I think he understood that it was better to plead guilty than risk a trial because he would not be able to play the sympathy card to a jury!
Sounds like a good place to move to for retirement.