GunsGeorgia town requires households to have firearms

Published 4 April 2013

Nelson, a Georgia town of fewer than 2,000 people, has passed a mandatory gun ownership law in an effort to lower the town’s crime rate. The city council unanimously passed the Family Protection Ordinance on Monday, requiring “heads of households to maintain firearms … in order to provide for the emergency management of the city.”

The town of Nelson, Georgia passes an ordinance requireing residents to have a firearm // Source: presstv.ir

Nelson, a Georgia town of fewer than 2,000 people, has  passed a mandatory gun ownership law in an effort to lower the town’s crime rate. The city council unanimously passed the Family Protection Ordinance on Monday, requiring “heads of households to maintain firearms … in order to provide for the emergency management of the city.” USA Todayreports that there are exceptions to the ordinance. Anyone who has physical or mental disabilities, who is homeless, or a convicted felon cannot carry a weapon. People who  do not want to own a gun are not required to.

It’s a “deterrent,” Police Chief Heath Mitchell, the town’s only police officer, told USA Today. “I’m not going to be going from house to house asking people if they have a gun.”

According to city officials, the measure was drafted because the town is very close to the Cherokee-Pickens county line, which leads to slower response times in case of an emergency, and the town also wanted to show its commitment to the Second Amendment in the wake of post-Sandy Hook gun control debates across the country.

“With all of the talk about taking away guns, Nelson is telling our people, you’ve got a Second Amendment right to buy and keep arms,” Councilman Jackie Jarrett said. “We’re hoping it will deter crime.”

Officials said, though, that there is not much crime in Nelson to begin with, but the town still wanted to  follow in the footsteps of several other towns across the country when it came to making a statement about guns.

Spring City, Utah has also passed an ordinance earlier this year recommending that every household have a gun in it. Last month in the town of Byron, Maine, voters rejected a law that would have required each household in the town to own a gun and ammunition. The town, which only has 140 residents, had about fifty people vote on the measure — and all of them voted against it, including the woman who proposed it.

Mitchell said that he hopes Nelson can get back to normal now that the ordinance is set.

We’re just ready for things to slow down,” he said.

The town of Kinnesaw, Georgia, in 1982 passed an ordinance similar to that passed by Nelson. The town’s population was around 5,000 people then. Today the law still stands, with the population having  expanded to 30,000 people.

“We still get visitors (interested in the law), not only from other cities around the country, but we constantly get foreign visitors from the international press,” City Spokeswoman Pam Davis told USA Today. “Japan, Russia, Canada, France — another week, another foreign journalist.”