It’s official. Every household in Nelson, Ga., located just north of Atlanta, will be required by law to own a gun.
The Nelson City Council unanimously approved a law Monday that will mandate gun ownership in the city of 1,300. There law is mostly ceremonial as any resident that doesn’t want to own a gun can opt out of the law. The vote was 5-0.
Nelson council member Edith Portillo told WXIA in March the law would not be obligatory, but rather is intended to send a message to Washington lawmakers who want to restrict gun ownership.
“Our government at the moment, they want to take as much away from us as they can,” she said.
The law does exempt “felons, paupers, and anyone with a mental or physical disability” from the requirement to keep a firearm in their household, according to the proposal.
The proposal is patterned after a law passed in the 1980s in Kennesaw, Ga., where supporters say the requirement has helped keep crime down, according to WXIA.
The measure is being promoted by the chairman of the local Tea Party, who says the organization wants to take the issue countywide and then statewide.
A Nelson resident who opposes the law told WXIA the law is unnecessary, adding that the city doesn’t have a problem with violent crime and that anyone in Nelson who wants a gun probably has one.
Nelson is located partly in Pickens County and a large part of the county is in Cherokee County, about 50 miles from Atlanta.
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