While many lawmakers have pushed to restrict gun ownership throughout the country in recent years, a city in Georgia legally requires residents to own guns and ammunition.
According to the BBC, a law established in 1982 requires residents of Kennesaw, Georgia, to own firearms and ammunition.
The city’s gun law reads, “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 city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition.” Kennesaw’s firearm law does include exclusions for residents with felony convictions, residents with physical or mental disabilities, and residents with religious beliefs that go against the requirement.
In a statement to the BBC, Kennesaw Mayor Derek Easterling said, “It’s not like you go around wearing it on your hip like the Wild Wild West,” He added, “We’re not going to knock on your door and say, ‘Let me see your weapon.’”
According to the BBC, Easterling said he did not know of any arrests or prosecutions that had been made due to residents violating the 1982 firearm law.
Based on interviews with Kennesaw residents, the BBC reported that most residents believe the gun law keeps the city safe.
Residents told the BBC, “If anything, criminals need to be concerned, because if they break into your home, and you’re there, they don’t know what you got.”
According to Kennesaw Police Department statistics shared with the BBC, Kennesaw did not have any murders in 2023; however, the town reported two suicides that involved guns in 2023.
Blake Weatherby, a Kennesaw First Baptist Church groundskeeper, told the BBC that the “attitude” behind the gun law is what keeps the town safe, not the guns themselves.
“It’s the attitude behind the guns here in Kennesaw that keep the gun crimes down, not the guns,” Weatherby said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a gun or a fork or a fist or a high heel shoe. We protect ourselves and our neighbors.”
Pat Ferris, who was elected as a city council member shortly after the Kennesaw gun law was established in the 1980s, told the BBC that he believed the law was intended to be “more of a political statement than anything.” Ferris added that he was not sure how many residents “even know that the ordinance exists.”
Meanwhile, Madelyn Orochena, another city council member, told the BBC that the firearm law is a “weird little factoid about our community” and explained that “residents will either roll their eyes in a bit of shame or laugh along about it.”