Coos County considers law mandating universal firearms
Oh Yeah, the right to delf defense IS spreading…..
>Coos County considers law mandating universal firearms
>
>                 The Associated Press
>                 7/1/01 4:06 PM
>
>                 COQUILLE, Ore. (AP) — A former Coos County sheriff has
>                 a simple solution for lowering the crime rate along his
>                 stretch of the southern Oregon coast: require every house
>                 to own a gun.
>
>                 Mike Cook thought of the universal gun law after a
>                 15-year-old girl died last summer in Coquille. The county
>                 wouldn’t have to enforce the law because just the idea of
>                 guns in every house would deter criminals, he said.
>
>                 “It’s not going to change things that much. But it will tell
>                 the world, ‘Don’t mess with us,” he said.
>
>                 County commissioners have agreed to meet with Cook to
>                 discuss the proposal, but admit they are skeptical. Coos
>                 County Sheriff Andy Jackson said he is also wary of the
>                 plan.
>
>                 “From what I hear, nobody wants to be forced into a
>                 demand to have a gun, just like people don’t want guns
>                 taken away,” he said.
>
>                 Yet Cook’s plan did not arise in a vacuum. Several other
>                 towns scattered across the country have tried similar rules,
>                 with varying success. At least three others have passed
>                 such laws, only to repeal them, records show.
>
>                 Cook discovered the idea on the Internet, where he read
>                 about a gun ordinance in Kennesaw, Ga., that was
>                 credited with cutting crime by 27 percent — and keeping it
>                 there despite a population that has nearly quadrupled since
>                 the law was enacted in 1982.
>
>                 Kennesaw police Cpl. Craig Graydon said the town
>                 originally passed the law as a political statement after a
>                 town in Illinois banned handguns.
>
>                 At about the same time, Chiloquin, north of Klamath Falls,
>                 passed a similar gun ordinance to discourage Californians
>                 with an anti-gun slant from moving into town. The law still
>                 stands today, but Mayor Joyce Smith said it hasn’t
>                 changed anything in the 716-person town.
>
>                 Both Chiloquin and Kennesaw, Ga., don’t enforce the
>                 ordinances. They both have clauses exempting people who
>                 can’t have firearms because of their religion, a disability,
>                 criminal record or philosophical belief.
>
>                 Cook said his proposal would include the same clauses,
>                 even though he believes most Coos County residents
>                 already have guns in their houses.

 
        


