Posted on 07/29/2008 1:57:12 PM PDT by nuconvert
Southern U.S. town proud of its mandatory gun law
KENNESAW, Georgia (Reuters) - The Virginia Tech killings have set off calls for tighter U.S. gun laws but anyone wanting to know why those demands likely will make little headway should visit Kennesaw, a town where owning a gun is both popular and mandatory.
The town north of Atlanta had little prominence until it passed a gun ordinance in 1982 that required all heads of a household to own a firearm and ammunition.
Kennesaw's law was a response to Morton Grove, Illinois, which had passed a gun ban earlier that year as a step to reduce crime.
But it also was an affirmation of what gun advocates say is a blanket U.S. constitutional right, under the Second Amendment, for citizens to keep and bear arms. Gun opponents challenge that right and say the language in the Constitution is open to interpretation.
The Kennesaw law has endured as the town's population has swelled to about 30,000 from 5,000 in 1982.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Some time in the early 80s, I attended a speech by the late Arkady Shevchenko, then the highest ranking Soviet official to defect to the West. He had been their top guy at the UN.
He spoke, interestingly, at KENNESAW COLLEGE — and we all know what Kennesaw is famous for! I’m proud to have played a a small role in helping Mayor Darvin Purdy get that legislation through the Kennesaw City Council.
His talk dealt with the clear intent of the leadership of the old Soviet Union to somehow take America. He mentioned their ICBMs and the nuclear blackmail threat they posed.
Then he broke from his prepared remarks and offered the audience this wisdom:
“The leaders of my country are as AFRAID OF YOUR 200 MILLION PRIVATE FIREARMS as they are of your ICBMs. NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUNS.”
Frankly — and, while he had to be careful as he was under FBI protection at the time, Shevchenko alluded to this in his remarks — I’m as concerned about some domestic tyrant (say, a Hillary, Barack HUSSEIN Obama or Chuck Schumer) as I am about some foreign enemy.
And it is THAT threat about which the Founding Fathers were concerned that prompted them to leave us the Second Amendment.
The BIG question is: WILL WE KEEP IT?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73SsNFgBO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg9q9sxJFnA
It would be interesting to see a comparison of crime stats for Morton Grove and Kennesaw.
It saddens me that 2nd Amendment rights are so frequently associated with such detestably backward thinking.
Indeed. It would also be interesting to see a Reuters story report the interesting comparisons which are obvious to the readers!
Kennesaw isn't doing anything differently from the Swiss, actually, except that in Swiss closets the home firearm can be full auto. When we see the statement about "European" firearms laws, we need to remember that up until the EU gets through messing them up, they're not all the same.
I just checked http://www.city-data.com/city/Morton-Grove-Illinois.html and http://www.city-data.com/city/Kennesaw-Georgia.html
Actually Kennesaw looks like it has worst crime>>>>??????
I really thought it would be the opposite..
We better!! (well written, just a nice comment)
As you said, this is an old article. It is no longer really open to interpretation, at least as an individual, versus "collective" right...
the infowarrior
Last ones I saw were from 2005. The crime rate in Morton Grove was about 2200 per 100,000 and the crime rate in Kennesaw was about 2100 per 100,000.
It appears that Kennesaw does, indeed, have a higher crime rate. But, there are any number of factors that cause this; gun ownership isn’t the only variable at play (though it IS significant, IMHO).
However, we need to remember the big picture: gun rights exists as a hedge against tyranny and that is of the most importance, ultimately.
Wow!
A score in the low 100’s vs one in the high 90’s is almost indistinguishable. Both are very, very low. Look at the suburbs of any big city, and you’ll find very few with scores in the high 100 range, let alone the low 100 range.
bump for later
I don’t know anything about the numbers..I just kinda expected a glaring difference...But then I realize that LOTs of things effect the crime rate...
I really expected burglaries to be way down..you just never know who is packing!
A close look at the demographics may yield a clue.
Interesting!!!!!
Do you really think they'd miss a chance to label the south - and gun owners - as racist ?
Having grown up in the north, I can tell you that my adopted home town of Houston is far less racist - and people own a lot more guns.
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