Idaho town asks residents to own guns

[deadparrot]

GREENLEAF, Idaho - After seeing the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, a city councilor in this tiny Idaho town founded by pacifist Quakers came up with a novel idea.

Ordinance 208, passed by the City Council on Tuesday, asks Greenleaf's 862 residents who do not object on religious or other grounds to keep a gun at home in case they are overrun by refugees from disasters like Katrina.

"This is not an 'it'll never happen here kind of thing,'" said Steven Jett, the ordinance's sponsor. "We could get refugees."

In this town about 35 miles west of Boise near the Oregon line — where an estimated 80 percent of the adults already own guns — the proposal hardly caused a stir: It went through weeks of public hearings and drew only mild criticism from the pastor of the town's Quaker meeting house.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_re_us/gun_law

[ixion]

1. ya know, if podunk towns want to isolate themselves with flags and guns

I really couldn't care less.

What I object to is making it a mandatory national agenda.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. I think instead of a gun...

I'll purchase some extra food, blankets, etc.

Shooting those poor people just wouldn't be my style.

Who would Jesus shoot? :cry:

[Donnachaidh]

3. I though Quakers were supposed to help those in need?

Faux Quakers in Idaho?

Who'da thunk it. :sarcasm:

[Tight_rope]

6. "Faux Quakers"....LMBAO...

[Montauk6]

11. Faux Quakers = Real Racists

[buddysmellgood]

4. Whatsoever they do to the least of their brothers. Funny how their first response to

the idea of someone in need is to shoot them.

[atreides1]

5. Someone's....

....watching too much Jericho on TV!

[Theres-a]

13. YES!

That show is bizarre.

[demnan]

7. This reminds me of my brother

He lives in rural Georgia and carries a gun all the time. Thinks he might need it. Has he ever needed it? No! What is the paranoia with people in rural areas? I've lived in urban high-crime areas and didn't feel like I needed a gun. He moved from a resort community in Naples, FL last year and he thought he needed a gun there. And no, he's not a Republican, he hates Republicans.

Now I don't mind people shooting for sport or hunting humanely and responsibly, but it really disturbs me that people feel that society is so broken down that law enforcement doesn't work anymore. After all, aren't you more likely to be shot by the thief who takes the loaded gun in your house?

Oh well, we'll never win on the gun issue, so we might as well let that one pass.

[AnneD]

9. Wise decision...

to let it pass. I grew up in a gun owning household and have no problem with it. Why, because we ate what we shot and humans weren't the target.

Katrina really changed it for me. I have too many friends and acquaintances that painted a desperate picture. Yes you hope that people pull together, but you have to be careful for that one person that thinks the laws of human decency don't apply to him, esp in a larger city.

[superconnected]

14. Paranoia is a common symptom in people that carry guns

on them all the time(I don't mean cops who work with them, I mean the guy who tapes a gun to his back, or carries a hidden holster.) I've had two co-workers like that.

They seemed nice and sane but the more I got them talking I found out they had deep paranoia issues. Plus violence seemed like the only answer they could grasp as plausible.

[Irreverend IX]

18. Trusting cops? That's what I call crazy.

Law enforcement doesn't work and has never worked, because a large segment of law enforcers are no more than thugs with badges. Your life or death means nothing to cops, and they have no obligation to protect anyone from violent crime. They just draw the chalk outlines after the fact and munch donuts while the coroner hauls the bodies away.

And a gun kept in the house is not "70 times more likely to kill a resident than a criminal." That's a Violence Policy Center lie.

[catabryna]

8. This is my chuckle for the day...

I used to live about 15 minutes from this little podunk town, in another little podunk town called Parma. Trust me when I say, there is no way any single refugee (let alone numerous refugees) would want to overrun the town of Greenleaf, pop. 800 or so. They are much more likely to converge on Caldwell and fight for the coveted job of potato sorter for JR Simplot. Egads!

[slackmaster]

10. Parallel discussion in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2736508

[tabasco]

12. These are the people that believe Rush Limbaugh's every word

so suffice it to say they're not critical thinkers.

They probably believe the lies that US cities are just like Baghdad.

Millions of truly stupid people will be the destruction of this Nation.

[superconnected]

15. So right. That's exactly who they are.

I've met them.

[Payback Time]

16. I also think it's a wise move...

I'm from New Orleans, the city that probably had the highest crime rate before Katrina. So, naturally, when systems break down what do the criminally-minded do? They carry weapons and go on a looting rampage. In uncivilized conditions, guns keep order, but they need to be used very responsibly and people need to be trained in that. When large scale natural disasters occur, and food distribution breaks down due to fuel shortages, not only greedy people, but hungry people will be hunters, especially in or near large cities. That's why Sun Bear, in "Black Dawn, Bright Day" advises to live at a distance from large cities, and grow your own.

[tabasco]

20. Hmmm, sounds like Charlie Manson's world view.

You sound like a nut, pal.

[Megahurtz]

17. "We could get Refugees".....

who need help so let's just shoot them? :wtf:

Wow.:wow: Such a friendly Country we live in. I'm so proud of it. :sarcasm:

[gratuitous]

19. I know that if I was flooded out

My first thought would be, "Greenleaf, yeah. That's where it's at. To Idaho, everybody!!"

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. "...with a frighteningly low albedo!" -nt

[michreject]

21. I have a CCW

and carry a gun every place I go. It's not about paranoia. I do it because it's legal and my right to do so.

[Toots]

22. Why don't they just surround the town with concertina wire and guard towers

Set up machineguns and armored gates to check people in and out of their town. Amerika......