Data point: Zero fatal shootings in 25 years

[unixronin]

Kennesaw, Georgia, passed an ordinance in 1982 requiring each head of household to "own and maintain" a gun.  In the subsequent 25 years, there have been zero fatal shootings in Kennesaw, and Kennesaw's per-capita overall crime rate is less than half what it was in 1982 — despite Kennesaw's population having grown by a factor of five to one.

Kennesaw's mandatory-gun law was passed (unanimously) in response to the total handgun ban passed by Morton Grove, Illinois.  Morton Grove's crime rate increased by 15.7% following the ban, while the surrounding Cook County's crime rate rose only 3%.

Comments

Have you looked into this yourself, or are you repeating what others have written?

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

That looks like the same press release that's appearing all over the 'net. I'd like to present you with some crime statistics from city-data.com. These are official crime stats you can check out for yourself at the urls I've given. If you check them out by percentages, them seem to correlate to pretty much the same statistics. It looks to me as if Kennesaw and Morton Grove had about the same amount of crime in 2002.

Kennesaw, GA http://www.city-data.com/city/Kennesaw-Georgia.html 2002 data
# 0 murders (0.0 per 100,000)
# 2 rapes (8.8 per 100,000)
# 4 robberies (17.6 per 100,000)
# 19 assaults (83.8 per 100,000)
# 60 burglaries (264.7 per 100,000)
# 426 thefts (1879.6 per 100,000)
# 24 auto thefts (105.9 per 100,000)
# City-data.com crime index = 133.6

Morton Grove, IL http://www.city-data.com/city/Morton-Grove-Illinois.html 2002 data:
Murders 0 per (0 per 100,000 )
Rapes 2 (8.9 per 100,000)
Robberies 5 (22.3 per 100,000)
Assaults 11 (49.0 per 100,000 )
etc.
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 325.2) 132.9

Re: Have you looked into this yourself, or are you repeating what others have written?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yes, they did. But in 1982, Kennesaw's crime rate was way up there -- over 4,300 per 100,000. Before the law, it had one of the higher crime rates in the Atlanta area. After the ban, it's had the lowest.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

Living in Atlanta, it should be noted that Cherokee County and Kennesaw's growth brought in a great deal of more affluent individuals.

I don't think comparing demographics between Kennesaw then and now is very enlightening.