Is there a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house?
Yes.
Also see these threads:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62807
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=189717
Is it just me or does anyone else hear “Duelling Banjos”??
Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta so Duelling Banjos isn’t really appropriate…
The law is on the books but I lived there for 10 years and never heard of it being enforced.
The law was never intended to be enforced. The point, I believe, was to put burglars and other potential home invaders on notice that they might want to ply their trades elsewhere.
Pretty silly.
So are they any statistics available after ten years showing crime has been reduced as a direct result of this ordinance?
Good question, but I don’t know the answer. Maybe I’ll send an email to the Atlanta Journal suggesting they research that question for an article.
I was just laughing at gun-toting, squeal-like-a-pig rednecks being encouraged by the Gummit.
That’s all.
Tarantula, please try to remember that not people who live in the Southern US are “gun-toting, squeal-like-a-pig rednecks”.
You think you’re going to get decent journalism out of the AJC? Bahahaha!
Tarantula - Kennesaw has no more it’s share of “gun-toting, squeal-like-a-pig rednecks” than Ireland does of drunken, potato digging illiterate dirt farmers. To make a generalization like that shows how very un-informed you are. Kennesaw is a beautiful area, with homes ranging in the millions of dollars. The people are generally polite, well mannered and educated. Several colleges are nearby.
There are strange laws on the books in every city, town and hamlet. I do not understand why everyone seems to pick up on the undesireables of Southern Society. The majority of Southerners, you will find, are, as described above, well mannered, polite and open minded. Furthermore, keep in mind that many, many Irish and Scots chose to settle here in order to get away from the generalizations and hate-speech you are spouting.
Deliverance was set in the mountains north of Atlanta along the Chatahoochee river 30 years ago, making it before that area was built up into a suburban sprawl. That in mind, Kennesaw is at the southern end of the one region on earth where Dueling Banjos IS appropriate.
While “squeal like a pig” and “rednecks” might have been over the top, it certainly can’t be offensive to describe the citizens of Kennesaw as “gun-toting”. In fact, it might even be offensive to say that they’re not, since that would imply that they’re not law-abiding.
Is such a statistic even possible? How would you exclude all other causes (neighborhood watch programs, more police patrols, more effectively targeted police patrols, public awareness, etc. etc.?)
This isn’t a chem lab, where you can isolate all external causes and measure the results of a single cause alone.
Trinopus
From this recent thread is a reference to this site , whence comes this quote:
The above quote is one that bobkitty extracted from the referenced link.
RR
I apologise for my earlier remarks - way out of line.
By the way, there are ass-loads of “drunken, potato digging illiterate dirt farmers” in Ireland. I’m not one of them, but I wouldn’t want to say they weren’t there…
I live 15 minutes from Kennesaw and I didn’t take offense at all. 
I went to Kennesaw State College (back before it was a University) for a year, but quickly found that city life was preferable to me and transferred to Georgia State.
Kennesaw is also home of the Kennesaw Claw – permed hair, mullet style, with the front/top section teased into a shape that can only be described as a bearclaw. I wish I could find a pic; my high school yearbook was riddled with them. It went out of fashion some time in the early 90s, but it’s still going strong out in Kennesaw. 
/hijack
Jean - I’ve seen the Kennesaw Claw… boy does it make people look stupid…
Anyhoo, some people took offence at my comments.
Sish!!! And I hadn’t even mentioned ass-rapists…
I wasn’t offended, though I’m not from Kennesaw. I’d like to thank all the people who were offended on behalf of the Kennesawians. I’m sure they appreciated it.