Posted on 04/20/2007 4:06:42 PM PDT by Kaslin
Crime rate plummeted after law required firearms for residents
As the nation debates whether more guns or fewer can prevent tragedies like the Virginia Tech Massacre, a notable anniversary passed last month in a Georgia town that witnessed a dramatic plunge in crime and violence after mandating residents to own firearms.
In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of "Wild West" showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.
The crime rate initially plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance, with the 2005 per capita crime rate actually significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law.
Prior to enactment of the law, Kennesaw had a population of just 5,242 but a crime rate significantly higher (4,332 per 100,000) than the national average (3,899 per 100,000). The latest statistics available – for the year 2005 – show the rate at 2,027 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the population has skyrocketed to 28,189.
By comparison, the population of Morton Grove, the first city in Illinois to adopt a gun ban for anyone other than police officers, has actually dropped slightly and stands at 22,202, according to 2005 statistics. More significantly, perhaps, the city's crime rate increased by 15.7 percent immediately after the gun ban, even though the overall crime rate in Cook County rose only 3 percent. Today, by comparison, the township's crime rate stands at 2,268 per 100,000.
This was not what some predicted.
In a column titled "Gun Town USA," Art Buchwald suggested Kennesaw would soon become a place where routine disagreements between neighbors would be settled in shootouts. The Washington Post mocked Kennesaw as "the brave little city … soon to be pistol-packing capital of the world." Phil Donahue invited the mayor on his show.
Reuters, the European news service, today revisited the Kennesaw controversy following the Virginia Tech Massacre.
Police Lt. Craig Graydon said: "When the Kennesaw law was passed in 1982 there was a substantial drop in crime … and we have maintained a really low crime rate since then. We are sure it is one of the lowest (crime) towns in the metro area." Kennesaw is just north of Atlanta.
The Reuters story went on to report: "Since the Virginia Tech shootings, some conservative U.S. talk show hosts have rejected attempts to link the massacre to the availability of guns, arguing that had students been allowed to carry weapons on campus someone might have been able to shoot the killer."
Virginia Tech, like many of the nation's schools and college campuses, is a so-called "gun-free zone," which Second Amendment supporters say invites gun violence – especially from disturbed individuals seeking to kill as many victims as possible.
Cho Seung-Hui murdered 32 and wounded another 15 before turning his gun on himself.
The Brady bunch is not amused.
There is no denying the establish FACT that crime is lower in areas where criminals know that their intended victims can be armed. Of course, the anti-Second Amendment pinkos will never acknowledge that fact, since it does not support their agenda of disarming the law abiding public.
An armed society is a polite society and we must protect the Second Amendment and our RIGHT to bear arms for the exact reason the Second Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights. The bane of the socialists.
The only murder they've had in recent memory was two drug dealers who had a disagreement in a motel room and one shot the other. But they leave the townspeople alone.
I just read this in the NY times and washington post. /sarcasm
The two biggest things you can do to stop gun violence is to make sure everybody has the right to a gun and to get rid of liberal judges and parole boards.
An armed society is a polite society.
The tendency to settle rob, attack or settle arguments with a gun are greatly diminished when the other party is expected to have their own gun.
Kennesaw’s crime rate is just below the crime rate in New York City which has has a rate of 2,802 crimes per 100,000 people.
The problem is with BIG cities who do not give a rats ass who comes and goes, or stays. Consequently, you get a lot of undesirables and foreigners with access to guns that shouldn’t even be allowed to reside in the city to begin with. A city without any police and social control over itself will never have any luck combating crime.
"The latest statistics available – for the year 2005 – show the rate at 2,027 per 100,000."
An extra 775 per 100,000 in the crime rate is hardly "just below".
i would rather live in NYC and and assume the extra .775% chance of being a crime victim.
” A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
State, _the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed_.”
A friend of mine just asked:
How do some lawmakers successfully circumvent this?
Congressman Billybob
From what I have read and seen, the crime statistics for New York are more doctored than anything. These supposedly dropped due to reporting changes.
I have lived in NYC for 8 months now. In my time, I have seen numerous drug deals go down, and seen someone get mugged in broad daylight in SOHO with 5 policeman standing within 20 yards of the victim.
I have lived a lot of places in my life that are supposedly more dangerous than NYC, but I have never seen anything in those places like what happens here.
I’ve lived in NYC and I’ve lived a number of other places, other places are better.
“undesirables and foreigners with access to guns that shouldn’t even be allowed to reside in the city”
Good lord. Hate much?
Shhhhh. Tennessee sucks. Pass the word......
That is the first place I thought of when I heard about the shootings. Thank you for the info.
>Good lord. Hate much?
Never heard the terms paupers, vagabonds or fugitives have you?
Yeah. Ever hear the terms xenophobia and bigotry?
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