Thursday, December 11, 2008

Welcome to Kennesaw. We're packin.

Op-ed on Kennesaw, GA's ordinance requiring all households to possess at least one gun, and ammo for same:
In 1981, Morton Grove, IL passed a law prohibiting citizens within the city limits to own firearms. In response, the city council of Kennesaw, GA unanimously passed a city ordinance in 1982 requiring heads of households to own at least one firearm with ammunition. The crime rate in Kennesaw at the time was already quite low, with only 11 burglaries per 1,000 residents in 1981; but nonetheless, the crime rate dropped even lower (by 89%) after the ordinance was passed.

In 1998, Decatur, GA, (another Atlanta suburb with a population of comparable size to that of Kennesaw) reported 4,049 property crimes per 100,000 residents, while Kennesaw had merely 243 property crimes per 100,000 (that is .243 per 1,000). In contrast, Morton Grove has a crime rate of about 10 times that of Kennesaw.

For the liberals with the American Civil Liberties Union on speed dial, slow down and don’t get your panties in a bunch. The ACLU has already taken the city of Kennesaw to federal court over the city ordinance, but Kennesaw won.

Op-ed here.

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