On Tuesday, November 14, 2006, the town of Greenleaf, Idaho, passed an unusual ordinance asking all residents with no moral or religious objection to keep guns in their homes. The reason that Greenleaf leaders cited for arming their town was the increase in crime that may occur if the town receives an influx of refugees from the Gulf Coast should another disaster like last year’s Hurricane Katrina take place.
In Thomas Jefferson’s day, it was common for private citizens to own guns. As Jefferson put it,
“The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that . . . it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”
In fact, it was so common for people to own guns in Jefferson’s time that he actually expressed surprise when he heard about places where people did not own weapons. He wrote in 1808:
“I learn with great concern that [one] portion of our frontier so interesting, so important, and so exposed, should be so entirely unprovided with common fire-arms. I did not suppose any part of the United States so destitute of what is considered as among the first necessaries of a farm-house.”
Today, the world is a very different place, and the issue of gun ownership is a controversial one. It will be interesting to see how the general public will react to Greenleaf’s new gun policy.
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