Kennesaw
tlambert | January 15, 2007In an opinion piece in the New York Times Glenn Reynolds claims:
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. ...
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…
tlambert | July 18, 1995On pages 136-138 of "Point Blank" Kleck discusses Kennesaw burglaries.
He states that after Kennesaw passed a (purely symbolic) law requiring
a gun in every household, residential burglaries fell by 89%. His
explanation for this decrease is that publicity about the law reminded
criminals of the risks they faced from potential victims' gun
possession and scared them away from burglaries in Kennesaw.
Kleck goes on to criticize a study that came to a contrary conclusion.
He writes "an ARIMA analysis of monthly burglary data found no
evidence of a statistically significant drop in burglary in…
tlambert | January 12, 1993brian.m.leary said:
The residential burglary rate in Kennesaw, Georgia dropped sharply
after a city ordinance requiring heads of household to keep at least one
firearm in their homes was passed. The law passed early in 1982.
In 1986 the rate was still down 85% compared to 1981. (1)
This statistic is essentially meaningless. If the crime rate
fluctuates, then by picking the right two years to compare, you can
get any result you want. To make a credible case, you need to provide
data for at least the ten years 77-86. I haven't seen Kleck's book,
but in his "Social Problems" paper, he uses…
tlambert | January 6, 1993brian.m.leary said:
In the five months after the passage of the mandatory gun ownership
law in Kennesaw, Georgia the residential burglary rate was down
89% from the same period the year before. Does this prove the
law worked? No - proof is difficult in these matters.
However, is it clear that the law had no effect? Hardly.
The source for this claim appears to be Kleck's paper in "Social
Problems" v35p15, where he states there were five reported residential
burglaries in the seven months after the law, while there were 45 in
the corresponding seven months of the preceding year.
As you have…
tlambert | December 1, 1992Frank Crary said:
[Kennesaw] was a response to Morton Grove's gun ban. Guess which "worked"
better?
If by "worked" you mean that crime rates were lower after the
relevant law than before, the answer is Morton Grove.
I'd like to see some data to back up this assertion: Specifically,
data concerning gun-related crimes in Morton Grove.
The only noticeable changes were a 45% reduction in with-gun
robberies in Morton Grove, and a 100% increase in with-gun assaults in
Kennesaw. The actual numbers were small, so this is not particularly
meaningful.
The raw data is presented as graphs showing…
tlambert | November 25, 1992John De Armond said:
Kennesaw is the city. Even though the law is symbolic, it served
its purpose. Burglaries dropped to zero the following year.
That's ZERO. Nadda.
Gee, this story gets better every time it is told. Next time it is
repeated I suppose we will hear about how the the Kennesaw gun law
caused the rate to become negative.
Here are the actual numbers (from Sociology & Social Research v74:1 p51)
Kennesaw Burglaries 1976-1986
76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 48 85 86
41 21 22 35 35 54 35 35 29 32 70
The Kennesaw law was passed on March 15, 1982 and pretty clearly hadno effect on the…