Gun Control in the U.S.-The Truth

**CloudSeeder** · 10-10-2004, 01:35 AM

www.gunowners.org
Dec 2003 GOA Speaks Out On Kansas Gun Battle
-- Supports mandatory gun ownership law

For Immediate Release
December 2, 2003
Contact: Ellie McDaniel
703-321-8585
In Geuda Springs, Kansas, some folks are taking the right to keep and bear arms quite seriously. The town council recently passed an ordinance requiring every resident to own a firearm. But not everyone is happy about the common-sense proposal, including the Mayor, who vetoed the ordinance on Monday (December 1).

"Amazingly, we hear the same cries from the Chicken Littles of the world, every time a city or state encourages more gun ownership," said GOA Director of Communications Erich Pratt. "Anti-gun fanatics come out of the woodwork, predicting that more guns in peoples' hands will result in rivers of blood flowing in the streets.

"But it never happens," Pratt said.

"Kennesaw, Georgia enacted a similar law in 1982 requiring every household to own a firearm, exempting those with criminal records or religious objections. Opponents argued the law would result in serious accidents and that angry residents would settle their differences with gunfire. Happily, those predictions never materialized."

An early study found that the residential burglary rate in Kennesaw (in 1982) had fallen 89 percent in the seven months following the law's enactment. That drop far outpaced the more modest 10.4 percent drop in the entire state of Georgia during that same period.

"In the ensuing years, Kennesaw's crime rate has remained at basement levels," Pratt said. "Last year, there was not one murder in the town. There were no accidental gun shot killings. The law has continued to work well for more than 20 years.

"Kennesaw's results should not be surprising," Pratt said. "Guns are a deterrent to bad guys, and we can predict that Geuda Springs would have enjoyed greater safety had the Mayor not vetoed the ordinance." After Mayor Edward Lacey's veto, the town council passed a slightly revised version, which will be considered by the full council at their February 2 meeting.

**CloudSeeder** · 10-10-2004, 01:51 AM

http://www.gunowners.org/fs9901.htm
Here are some stastics some of you may find interesting. Yes, this is a pro-gun web-site, however, all of the information is all footnoted.

**clocker** · 10-10-2004, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by CloudSeeder

"In the ensuing years, Kennesaw's crime rate has remained at basement levels," Pratt said. "Last year, there was not one murder in the town. There were no accidental gun shot killings. The law has continued to work well for more than 20 years.

Mandatory bong ownership would probably achieve the same results.

**RPerry** · 10-10-2004, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by clocker

Mandatory bong ownership would probably achieve the same results.

Doubt it, I would rather be around responsible gun owners, then stupid burn-outs any day

**Biggles** · 10-10-2004, 01:34 PM

I am somewhat bemused by Cloudseeder's and presumably the gun lobby's logic.

The thrust of the argument appears to be that the more guns there are the fewer accidental shootings there will be.

Well call me picky but I think if there are no guns the rate would be lower. What was the number of accidental shootings in the US last year, about 1,500? That is one hell of a lot of unnecessary deaths, a great many of them children. If terrorists were killing 1,500 Americans a year unchecked there would be merry hell and politicians and security officials would rightly lose their jobs.

The gun industry is enormous just like the cigarette industry. Both will come up with the most spurious nonsense in order to protect their market. Understandable - after all, business is business.

Guns kill people (excepting faulty ones that is - which strangely are then deemed useless)

**vidcc** · 10-10-2004, 04:46 PM

The ordinance calls for a $10 penalty for those who don't keep a gun at home. But just as the law in Kennesaw (which has a $50 penalty) is not enforced, Mr. Brewer said, authorities will not be going to the doors of homes of Geuda Springs residents to see if they are in compliance.
Those with conscientious or religious objections to firearms are exempt from the law, as are paupers, people with physical or mental disabilities, and convicted felons. "If you don't want a gun, you don't have to have one. ... This is a perfect law," Mr. Brewer said.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...3155-9038r.htm

Looks along the lines of the bill that just ran out...not really compulsory...so what's the point other than machismo ?

**Rat Faced** · 10-10-2004, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by CloudSeeder

You would probably be arrested, But you would have a damn good defense, probably get the law repealed as well.

Thats the only reason Trial by Combat was repealed... someone tried to that old Law in Court

**RPerry** · 10-11-2004, 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by Biggles

I am somewhat bemused by Cloudseeder's and presumably the gun lobby's logic.

The thrust of the argument appears to be that the more guns there are the fewer accidental shootings there will be.

Well call me picky but I think if there are no guns the rate would be lower. What was the number of accidental shootings in the US last year, about 1,500? That is one hell of a lot of unnecessary deaths, a great many of them children. If terrorists were killing 1,500 Americans a year unchecked there would be merry hell and politicians and security officials would rightly lose their jobs.

The gun industry is enormous just like the cigarette industry. Both will come up with the most spurious nonsense in order to protect their market. Understandable - after all, business is business.

Guns kill people (excepting faulty ones that is - which strangely are then deemed useless)

Not just picking on you biggles, just your thread provoked the thought. The automobile industry is just as big. How many innocent victims of car accidents do we have each year ? how many of them children ? So do we take away the cars too? go back to the days of hourse and carraige ? only then I'm sure we will have people who get ran over by the horses, and have to get rid of them too. There is no argument from me that alot of innocent people are killed by guns everyday. I maintain its up to the gun owners to be responsible for their weapon, and they should be held accountable for anything that happens. Gun saftey, and education is the way to go.