Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 1, 1995 TAG: 9508010063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY REED
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
D.T., Roanoke
A: Both Kennesaw, Ga., and Morton Grove, Ill., happily report low crime rates. But they were like that before.
Lots of factors go into discouraging crime. The presence or absence of guns in the home may have less to do with burglaries, for example, than the community's location. Poverty usually lives near the center of cities. Kennesaw and Morton Grove, in spite of their dueling gun laws, are suburbs that never were crime capitals.
Morton Grove caught people's eyes in 1981 when it passed the nation's strictest gun-control ordinance, banning the possession and sale of handguns by its 24,000 residents.
The handgun ban withstood legal challenges in both Illinois and federal courts, which affirmed it six times altogether.
Six other Chicago suburbs adopted similar gun bans. Many more towns failed in efforts to pass stricter gun controls.
Facts: Morton Grove never had many gun crimes and still doesn't. The last homicide involving a handgun was in 1979; there have been four killings by other means since then.
Under the handgun ordinance, 56 pistols have been surrendered to police. Forty weapons have been confiscated in the course of investigating other crimes. A few guns have been found or come into police hands without anyone's being arrested. Total handgun take: 113 through 1994.
Burglaries in Morton Grove have declined slightly since 1981.
Kennesaw fired off a response to Morton Grove's approach. It passed an ordinance virtually requiring most of its 7,000 healthy, law-abiding residents to maintain a gun and ammunition.
Kennesaw's police chief publicly invited Morton Grove to send its guns to Georgia. Morton Grove officials replied that Kennesaw leaders were rednecks.
People in other states sent small donations to set up gun safety training for Kennesaw citizens.
The town backed off, though. After two months in the media spotlight, Kennesaw amended its ordinance. Anyone who objected to guns didn't have to buy one, and Kennesaw never enforced the ordinance.
Perceptions prevail, however. Even now, newcomers to the Atlanta area hear the popular line that Kennesaw residents - now numbering 9,000 - have to own a gun.
Facts: Kennesaw reported a sudden drop in crime, and burglaries in particular, with the onset of publicity about its gun ordinance in 1982. Burglaries dropped by 65 percent and overall crime by 22 percent.
By 1986, burglaries and crime complaints in general rebounded. The rates leveled off for a few years, and dipped slightly in the '90s.
Both towns keep information packets handy for journalists who ask about their crime rates.
Neither Kennesaw nor Morton Grove police have ever entered a home solely for the purpose of enforcing their respective gun ordinances, so they don't know how many weapons the citizens actually have.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.|
by CNB