🚀 go-pugleaf

_http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/16/opinion/16reynolds.html?ex=1169614800
&en=bc
1fa12c5e8e1fcf&ei=5070&emc=eta1_ 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/16/opinion/16reynolds.html?ex=1169614800
&en=bc1fa12c5e8e1fcf&ei=5070&emc=eta1) 
 
January 16, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
A Rifle in Every Pot 
By GLENN REYNOLDS
 
Knoxville, Tenn. 
IT�S a phenomenon that gives the term �gun control� a whole new meaning:  
community ordinances that encourage citizens to own guns. 
Last month, Greenleaf, Idaho, adopted Ordinance 208, calling for its 
citizens 
 to own guns and keep them ready in their homes in case of emergency. 
It�s 
not a  response to high crime rates. As The Associated Press reported, �
Greenleaf  doesn�t really have crime ... the most violent offense 
reported in the past 
two  years was a fist fight.� Rather, it�s a statement about 
preparedness in 
the  event of an emergency, and an effort to promote a culture of 
self-reliance. 
And it may not be a bad idea. While pro-gun laws like the one in 
Greenleaf  
are mostly symbolic, to the extent that they actually make a difference, 
it is  
likely to be a positive one.  
Greenleaf is following in the footsteps of Kennesaw, Ga., which in 1982  
passed a mandatory gun ownership law in response to a handgun ban passed 
in  
Morton Grove, Ill. Kennesaw�s crime dropped sharply, while Morton 
Grove�s did  
not.  
To some degree, this is rational. Criminals, unsurprisingly, would 
rather  
break into a house where they aren�t at risk of being shot. As David 
Kopel noted 
 in a 2001 article in The Arizona Law Review, burglars report that they 
try 
to  avoid homes where armed residents are likely to be present. We see 
this  
phenomenon internationally, too, with the United States having a lower  
proportion of �hot� burglaries � break-ins where the burglars know the 
home to  be 
occupied � than countries with restrictive gun laws.  
Likewise, in the event of disasters that leave law enforcement 
overwhelmed,  
armed citizens can play an important role in stanching crime. Armed 
neighborhood  watches deterred looting in parts of Houston and New 
Orleans in the 
aftermath of  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  
Precisely because an armed populace can serve as an effective backup for 
law  
enforcement, the ownership of firearms was widely mandated during 
Colonial  
times, and the second Congress passed a statute in 1792 requiring adult 
male  
citizens to own guns.  
The twin purposes of self and community defense may very well lie behind 
the  
Second Amendment�s language encompassing both the importance of a 
well-regulated  militia and the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. 
As the 
constitutional  and criminal law scholar Don Kates has noted in the 
journal 
Constitutional  Commentary, thinkers at the time when the Constitution 
was written drew 
no real  distinction between resisting burglars, foreign invaders or 
domestic 
tyrants:  All were wrongdoers that good citizens had the right, and the 
duty, 
to oppose  with force.  
Greenleaf�s ordinance is consistent with this approach. But it may also 
serve 
 another purpose.  
Experts don�t think the Kennesaw ordinance, which has never actually 
been  
enforced, did much to change gun ownership rates among Kennesaw 
residents. And,  
given that Greenleaf�s mayor has estimated that 80 percent of the town�s  
residents already own guns, the new ordinance can�t make all that much 
of a  
difference. But criminals are likely to suspect that towns with laws 
like these  
on the books will be unsympathetic to malefactors in general, and to 
conclude  
that they will do better elsewhere. 
To the extent that�s true, we�re likely to see other communities 
adopting  
similar laws so that criminals won�t see them as attractive 
alternatives. The  
result may be a different kind of �gun control.� 
Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee,  is the 
author of the blog Instapundit and of �An Army of Davids: How Markets 
and  
Technology are Empowering Ordinary People to Take on Big Government, Big 
Media  and 
Other  Goliaths.�





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