# Kennesaw, Georgia --- Do you have to own a gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876 "2003-06-19T06:35:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/1 "2003-06-19T06:35:25Z")
Is there a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house? [http://iresist.com/cbg/guns.html](http://iresist.com/cbg/guns.html) ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/2 "2003-06-19T07:47:37Z")
Yes. [City Ordinance](http://www.kennesaw.ga.us/CodeOfOrdinances.aspx) Also see these threads: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62807](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62807) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=189717](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=189717) ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/3 "2003-06-19T08:16:42Z")
Is it just me or does anyone else hear “Duelling Banjos”?? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/4 "2003-06-19T14:18:14Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/5 "2003-06-19T15:15:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/6 "2003-06-19T15:24:46Z")
> [@](#): > > The law is on the books but I lived there for 10 years and never heard of it being 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. So are they any statistics available after ten years showing crime has been reduced _as a direct result_ of this ordinance? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/7 "2003-06-19T15:38:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/8 "2003-06-19T15:42:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanstaafl \* > **Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta so Duelling Banjos isn’t really appropriate…** I was just laughing at gun-toting, squeal-like-a-pig rednecks being encouraged by the Gummit. That’s all. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/9 "2003-06-19T16:00:57Z")
**Tarantula** , please try to remember that not people who live in the Southern US are “gun-toting, squeal-like-a-pig rednecks”. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/10 "2003-06-19T16:05:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spoke- \* > \*\*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. \*\* You think you’re going to get decent journalism out of the AJC? Bahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/11 "2003-06-19T16:59:21Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![mcbiggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@mcbiggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcbiggins)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/12 "2003-06-19T17:29:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanstaafl \* > \*\*Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta so Duelling Banjos isn’t really appropriate… > \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/13 "2003-06-19T17:30:14Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/14 "2003-06-19T17:54:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duckster \* > \*\*So are they any statistics available after ten years showing crime has been reduced _as a direct result_ of this ordinance? \*\* 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 ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/15 "2003-06-19T18:48:45Z")
From [this recent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=189717&highlight=kennesaw) is a reference to [this site](http://www.mindspring.com/~robertcjones/khs/kennesaw20th/kennesaw20th.htm) , whence comes this quote: > [@](#): > > Kennesaw rocked the world when on May 1, 1982, the Kennesaw City Council unanimously passed a law requiring all heads of households to maintain a firearm and ammunition. The law was passed partly in response to a law passed in Morton Grove, Illinois (June, 1981) banning private possession of handguns. Since passage of the law, the burglary rate in Kennesaw has gone down significantly, while the rate in Morton Grove has gone up. > > “Before the law was passed we had 11 burglaries per 1000 in population. As of 1992 we had 2.7 burglaries per 1000 population. Over the years, it may fluctuate 1% higher, or 1 or 2% lower, but its something that’s stayed in line from '83 all the way up to today.” (Kennesaw Police Chief Dwaine Wilson, 1994) > > As of 2000, the burglary rate in Kennesaw was even lower – making it one of the safest cities of its size in the United States. It is all the more astonishing given that Kennesaw has quadrupled in size since passage of the gun law: > > “With the fast growth of the population, and the location of the city in relation to I-75 and 41 coming right through town, all indications are that the crime rate should have gone up. And instead it has gone down a tremendous amount.” (Former Mayor J.O. Stephenson, a city councilman when the gun law was passed) > > … The population grew from 5,095 in 1980 to over 21,000 today. The above quote is one that **bobkitty** extracted from the referenced link. RR ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/16 "2003-06-20T07:40:14Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/17 "2003-06-20T12:36:46Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/18 "2003-06-20T12:45:10Z")
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… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennesaw-georgia-do-you-have-to-own-a-gun/182876/19 "2003-06-20T15:09:35Z")
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.