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Here is a tale of two cities:
one that banned handguns and one that required guns. Guess which town
enjoyed a plunge in crime.
In June 1981, Morton Grove,
Ill., a northern suburb of Chicago, passed an ordinance banning handguns.
In reaction, Kennesaw, Ga., a northern suburb of Atlanta, passed an ordinance
requiring heads of households "to maintain a firearm" and ammunition "to
provide for the civil defense" and "protect the general welfare of the
City and its inhabitants."
"Some people seem to think
our residents are not armed," Morton Grove Police Chief George Incledon,
told United Press International on Tuesday. The chief pointed out that
the law did not prohibit ownership of shotguns or rifles, and that gun
collectors were exempt.
Many citizens prefer shotguns
to handguns for home defense. Incledon did not define "gun collector."
Morton Grove residents could store their handguns outside the village
limits or at a licensed gun club.
Moreover, Incledon recalled,
out of a population of 25,000, only "a few people, maybe 10," surrendered
handguns to police in the months after the law went into effect.
Similarly, Kennesaw's law provides
so many loopholes that, in effect, no one is compelled to obey it. Convicted
felons are, of course, excluded. Also exempt are those "who suffer a physical
disability [undefined] which would prohibit them from using such a firearm"
and those who "conscientiously oppose firearms as a result of religious
doctrine or belief [also undefined]." Inhabitants may claim exemptions
for moral or financial reasons, said Detective Cpl. Craig Graydon, a Kennesaw
Police Department spokesman, in a phone interview Tuesday.
According to a National Rifle
Association document, the law was not expected to increase gun ownership.
"It was expected that publicity surrounding the ordinance would warn criminals
that residents were capable of protecting themselves and their community
and would do so with the government's blessing," the document said.
The results?
Not much of anything in Morton
Grove. "We were fortunate to have a low rate of violent crime before the
ordinance was passed, and we are fortunate now that the rate is still
low," Incledon told UPI.
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But Kennesaw's crime rate plummeted.
In fact, the number of some crimes declined amid soaring population growth.
For example, in figures the city provided to the FBI Uniform Crime Report,
Kennesaw had 54 burglaries in 1981 – the year before the gun ordinance
– with a population of 5,242. In 1999, with a population of 19,000, only
36 burglaries were reported.
The rate of violent crime is
approximately four times lower than the state and national rates, Kennesaw's
Crime Statistics Report said. "Violent crime is almost nonexistent in
residential neighborhoods," Graydon told UPI. The detective, who has been
with the police department since 1986, said the isolated exceptions take
place in motels or in commercial areas.
Graydon said he has lived in
the area since 1979 and has heard no open opposition to the gun law. This
remains the case even though most of Kennesaw's newcomers are from northern
states.
Asked whether the ordinance
has attracted new people to Kennesaw, Graydon said: "Not specifically
the law itself, but quite a few people cite the low crime rate, which
a lot of people do attribute, at least in part, to the gun law."
The detective said Kennesaw
used state criteria for carrying a concealed handgun. "It's not that difficult"
to get the license, he said. Unlike some other jurisdictions, Georgia
does not require permit holders to submit the serial numbers of their
handguns to the police. "We don't register firearms down here," Graydon
said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Handgun
Control's Washington office was invited to comment on Kennesaw's crime
statistics. A spokeswoman there replied that no one from the organization
could address the issue until after a press conference.
Copyright 2001 by United Press
International. All rights reserved.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/3/27/223955.shtml
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