Follow-up on Nelson, GA and its gun law

A couple of days ago I wrote about the little town of Nelson, GA which has passed a law that every household must have a gun.   I raised questions of logic about why a place that calls itself safer than Mayberry (the safest places in the world) would think it needed more protection in the form of guns.

In yesterday's AJC, political writer Jim Galloway gave a plausible explanation that has nothing to do with safety -- and a lot to do with putting your little pinpoint on the map.

Galloway cites the example of Kennesaw, GA, which passed a similar law back in the 1980's.  They even intentionally wrote their law with so many exemptions that it actually covered no one.   There was never a reason to enforce the law, because it didn't apply to any actual residents.   He even cites the person charged with writing all these exemptions into the law -- the son of the city attorney, who was at the time a third year law student.

How much the notoriety was responsible, but this occurred just on the wave of economic boom that swept Cobb County, and the publicity probably steered a lot of development Kennesaw's way.

Likewise, the Nelson law contains a clause that exempts anyone who objects to owning a gun.  Galloway also cites the grand-daddy of this ploy:   Dayton, Tennessee, city of the Scopes "Monkey Trial," in which a high school teacher was tried for teaching evolution.   The trial involved a famous debate between famed lawyer Clarence Darrow and sometime presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.

The whole thing was a set-up -- done with the school teacher's consent and cooperation to have the trial.   What did Dayton, TN get out of it?

For one thing, they now have a conservative college, Bryan College, as well as vast name recognition world wide.    Is this what the people of Nelson have in mind?

Ralph