• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

PA Town Considers Recommending Guns

badmonkey

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2006
Messages
152
Location
Princeton, West Virginia, USA
imported post

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061206/us_nm/usa_guns_dc


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A tiny town in western Pennsylvania could ask all of its residents to own guns, if a proposal under consideration on Wednesday wins approval from local officials.
Under the proposed law, residents of Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, would be asked to own guns and know how to use them. Cherry Tree, some 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, has about 400 residents.
The town council was scheduled to vote on the proposed "Civil Protection Ordinance" on Wednesday evening.
Introduced last month by resident Henry Statkowski, the measure recommends that "all heads of households maintain a firearm along with ammunition."
In written comments, Statkowski said homeowners have a right and a responsibility to defend against intruders rather than calling police and waiting for help to arrive.
The measure would send a message to "burglars, ne'er-do-wells and other criminal elements," Statkowski wrote.
The male head of the household has the responsibility to defend the family from intruders, he also wrote.
"I don't believe your wife would appreciate it very much if you said, 'Honey, I'll wait until the police arrive and have them defend your life,"' he wrote.
Statkowski could not be reached for comment.
Chad Ramsey, a spokesman for the national gun-control group the Brady Campaign, dismissed the proposal as "ridiculously silly."
The measure was unlikely to pass because state law prevents municipalities from making their own gun laws, Ramsey said. He said about 40 percent of Pennsylvania households own guns.
Aaron Fry, owner of the Cherry Tree Cafe, said he did not understand why the measure was necessary because guns are common. "Every house has a couple of guns," he said.

Although I don't think they should require guns I believe recommending that they keep one is a step in the right direction. Leave it to the Brady Campaign to step in and try to stop it...
 

Pwning the Papacy

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2006
Messages
25
Location
, ,
imported post

Is an ordinance required to start a campaign?

Otherwise this actually, instead of promoting guns, opens huge liability holes for homeowners. If one of these "burglars, ne'er-do-wells and other criminal elements" comes on your property, and you don't use their firearm to subdue them, and the city, without need, enacts an ordinance 'asking city denizens' to know, keep, and bear arms, who does the liability then fall to when those "burglars, ne'er-do-wells and other criminal elements" move onto the next homestead? It's a simple move of liability from the police to the citizen in an underhanded move. If that's not the intent, someone will find a way to make it the intent.

The male head of the household has the responsibility to defend the family from intruders, he also wrote.
I hope that's not codifed or considered in the courts, as this is in no manner whatsoever a 'male' or 'female' issues, but a 'person' issues. I am not even sure of any specific liability where 'head of household' is required to protect all 'members' of the household, or guests, and at no time should it only be a "male head of the household" or that only heads of households may be male.
 

badmonkey

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2006
Messages
152
Location
Princeton, West Virginia, USA
imported post

I am not necessairly saying I agree with the ordinance because in the end it's just another gun law but I would like to see the actual ordinance to see if it is placing liability on the homeowner before making a decision on whether or not I agree with it. I just saw a news article about guns and decided to post it.:lol:
 
Top