Atlanta (CNN) -- A small Georgia town may soon require every household to own a firearm -- a law that, if passed, would make it the second town in the state to mandate gun ownership.
City council members in Nelson, a town of 1,300 people north of Atlanta, unanimously approved the proposal at a meeting this week. Citizens now have a chance to review the proposal before the council takes it up again in April.
"Basically this is a deterrent ordinance," Councilman Duane Cronic said at the meeting. "It's no more than putting a sign in your front yard saying that 'ADT protects this home.' Now the person that may be there (checking) your home out to cause harm to you or your family to break into your house has to decide, 'When I break that door down, what's on the other side of that door?'"
The law would give every family the right to protect themselves and their property "without worrying about prosecution for protecting themselves," Cronic told the meeting. He said the proposal was modeled on a similar law in nearby Kennesaw, Georgia, that has been on the books since 1982.
Nelson Police Chief Heath Mitchell told council members the proposal is a great idea.
"I think y'all are showing the people that you're in full support of the Constitution," Mitchell said. "And as far as the Second Amendment goes, that you stand behind it, you stand behind people's rights."
The two-paragraph proposal reads, "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."
People with physical or mental disabilities are exempt from the law, as are "paupers," felons, and those who oppose gun ownership based on belief or religious doctrine.
'When I break that door down, what's on the other side of that door?'"
A treasure-trove of guns, if you waited like a good thief 'til everyone was gone.
"Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again."
- Stephen King, The Stand
"Ozone Man, Ozone. He's crazy, way out, far out, man." — George H.W. Bush, speaking about Al Gore during the 1992 presidential campaign
While the requirement is less onerous than the health insurance mandate (a one-off purchase as opposed to an obligation to subscribe to an ongoing financial service), it's still a terrible law.
People with physical or mental disabilities are exempt from the law, as are "paupers," felons, and those who oppose gun ownership based on belief or religious doctrine.
No law should ever have an exception for religious beliefs - either the law is so unimportant that non-compliance is not a problem, in which case it shouldn't be a law, or the law is important enough that "God says" is not a compelling counter-argument. And frankly, given that the law does not compel the homeowner to take a life if necessary, anyone who would want to be exempt is probably better left unarmed.
It's Georgia. I was in Kennesaw for my cousin's wedding. The gun law? It's not exactly enforced. As in my cousin's family doesn't have a gun and they're not in jail or getting fined. Same with a bunch of other people there. It's a feel good law which was passed by people with too much time on their hands and I expect this one to be more of the same.
aerius: I'll vote for you if you sleep with me. Lusankya: Deal!
Say, do you want it to be a threesome with your wife? Or a foursome with your wife and sister-in-law? I'm up for either.
