1982, the little town of Kennesaw, Georgia passed an ordinance that every able-bodied family must own a gun. Here is the text of the ordinance:
(a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore.(b)Exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who suffer a physical or mental disability which would prohibit them from using such a firearm. Further exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who are paupers or who conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine, or persons convicted of a felony.
An amendment to the gun ownership law grants exceptions to convicted felons, conscientious objectors and those who cannot afford a gun.
In 2007, there was a follow-up, showing the effects of the law on crime and the city. The liberals, of course, warned that Kennesaw would become the Wild West. Like all liberal predictions, this one belongs in the sewer. (Make sure you flush twice, it’s a long way to DNC HQ) In the 25 years that the law had been in place, not one murder or defensive shooting took place. The first murder finally did occur in 2014, 32 years into the ordinance.
The population soared from 5,242 to 28,189. The year prior to the passage of the ordinance, the city had a crime rate of (4,332 per 100,000). That was higher than the national average of (3,899 per 100,000). As of 2007, the crime rate had dropped to 2,268 per 100,000. The current crime rate for Kennesaw has dropped to 1,760 Per 100,000.
In fact, Family Circle Magazine ranked Kennesaw as one of the ten best cities for families to live in. Kennesaw came in at Number 5. Kennesaw is far from being the one exception to the rule.
The DOJ released a report that covered the years 1993 to 2011, a period in which gun ownership soared. What did they find? In 1993 there were 18,253 gun deaths. In 2011 there were just 11,101. Even more startling is that nonfatal shootings dropped by 69%!!
What about the liberal propaganda that gun shows are the case of most gun shootings because there are no background checks? The DOJ found that gun felons in federal prisons got just 2% of their guns from gun shows. Ten percent said they purchased their gun from a retail shop or pawnshop, 37 percent obtained it from family or friends, and another 40 percent obtained it from an illegal source.
Concealed carriers also assisted in dropping crime rates during the years of the Obama caliphate. The number of concealed carry permits in 2007 was 4.6 million and has now soared to 12.8 million. That number is actually much higher since eight states now do not require a concealed carry permit. During this same period, gun deaths dropped from 5.6 million to 4.2 million per 100,000.
Harvard studied gun policies around the world and found to their astonishment that more guns mean less crime.
One last item. What about the vaunted Gun-free Zones? Are they working? Yes, but only for mass murderers. Since the 1950s, all but three mass shootings took place in gun-free zones.