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Gun law creates fireworks in Roswell
By PAUL KAPLAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/28/05
Only a strange turn of events could have brought an affluent Republican stronghold like Roswell into the National Rifle Association's cross hairs.
But that is what happened, and now officials in the Northside suburb are scrambling to avoid taking credit for a proposal to toughen the city's gun ordinance.
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The change would curb a resident's right to fire a weapon to protect property. Roswell officials say the amended ordinance would bring the city's law, written in 1955, in line with the state's, which allows the use of force only to protect a person.
But the NRA fired off a national alert about the "egregious amendment," and the organization's many supporters have flooded City Hall with calls and e-mails complaining about the change.
Now the mayor says the change wasn't his idea, it was the city attorney's.
The city attorney says it wasn't his idea, it was the police chief's.
The police chief says it wasn't his idea, it was the city attorney's and the City Council's.
Whoever had the idea, it was a good one, insisted Frank Rotondo, executive director of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. "What they're attempting to clarify is that if someone is stealing your lawn mower, you should not take out your weapon and shoot them," he said. Not so fast, says the NRA, which is concerned the ordinance is a step onto a slippery slope that could lead to residents giving up the right of self-defense.
"It's a fine line between protecting your property and protecting yourself," said Kelly Hobbs, a spokeswoman at the NRA's headquarters in Fairfax, Va.
For example, Hobbs said, could you shoot a carjacker under the amended ordinance? "Is that protecting your property or yourself?" she asked.
Roswell is an old-fashioned Southern city and about the last place you would expect to find a spat with the NRA. Especially in an election year, which this is for the mayor and three City Council members.
If it weren't for a hunter using a bow and arrow last month, all would be quiet there.
The hunter shot a deer. The deer ran off, staggered into a subdivision, collapsed and bled to death.
Some residents were horrified, not just at the dead deer, but at the prospect that there were hunters in the woods behind their houses, where their kids play.
The city responded by proposing an ordinance that says bows and arrows can only be used at approved ranges. But officials also updated the regulation on the use of all weapons, bringing it into line with state law.
That's when the NRA stepped in.
Roswell Mayor Jere Wood, who is a lawyer, says the ordinance was outdated because the state law takes precedence — but he added that the change wasn't his idea. It was David Davidson's, the city attorney, the mayor said.
Actually, Davidson said, the idea came from Ed Williams, the police chief. "I just reviewed it for legality," the attorney said.
But Williams said it's the City Council that makes the laws and Davidson who writes them. "My place is to remain neutral and to enforce the laws that are handed to me," Williams said.
Other cities in the metro area are all over the map on discharging weapons. Alpharetta allows the use of force to defend property, while Marietta allows force only to defend a person.
In Atlanta, it's illegal to fire a weapon in the city, period. That's probably the most restrictive discharge-of-weapons law in the metro area — and the one most frequently violated.
Roswell City Councilman Kent Igleheart, who heads the public safety committee and who is up for re-election this year, said the City Council will examine the issue thoroughly before finalizing the wording of the ordinance.
By the way, Igleheart noted, the change wasn't his idea, either.
