If you live in Nelson, Georgia, the government has decided that you must own a firearm.

The city council voted 5-0 in favor of the "Family Protection Act" in the small town of 1,300 about 50 miles north of Atlanta. The ordinance was initially proposed last month, and it garnered a high level of media attention. It would require that all residents, with certain exceptions, own a "firearm, together with ammunition."

While politicians in Washington have been debating gun-control measures such as an assault-weapons ban and expanded background checks in the aftermath of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, many states and localities have been proposing measures of their own. And many of those measures are intended to have the opposite effect: to increase gun ownership and loosen restrictions.

The ordinance in Nelson will not actually be enforced, and the council members readily admit that it is a statement about gun ownership more than anything else, meant to send a message to Washington.

"Our government at the moment, they want to take as much away from us as they can," said city council member Edith Portillo.

Not everyone from Nelson thinks it's such a great idea, though. "What's the point?" wondered Lamar Kellett. "By their own admission this is a sham. It's just for play."

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