Herb Swanson / EPA

Residents of Byron, Maine, vote against a proposal that each household be required to own a firearm.

BYRON, Maine -- Voters in a small Maine town unanimously rejected a proposal on Monday that would have required every household to own a firearm and ammunition.

More than 60 residents of Byron, Maine, packed into the tiny Coos Canyon Schoolhouse and quickly voted to make the symbolic measure the first order of business during the town's annual meeting.

After a brief discussion, residents elected to skip debate and vote. Not even Bruce Simmons, the resident who originally came up with the proposal, voted to support it.

Backers said the point of the measure, which was considered unenforceable, was to send a message to state and federal lawmakers trying to pass gun control laws.

"I feel we accomplished what we set out to do and I hope we will wake this town up," Simmons said. "We made a statement to the federal government that they can't take our guns away."

Herb Swanson / EPA

Philip Paquette, a Byron resident opposed to forcing people to own guns, put up signs urging people to vote against the proposal, which was unanimously defeated.

Selectman David Noyes, who told the group he opposed the requirement, said he was relieved the question was dispatched so quickly so the town of about 140 people could move on to other pressing matters.

Even if the measure had passed, Maine law bars municipalities from legislating on firearms.

The December shooting rampage that left 20 first-graders and six adults dead at a Connecticut elementary school has re-ignited the national debate over guns.

In response, some states have been prompted to tighten gun laws, while other states have sought to keep federal gun measures from being applied within their borders.

Byron is not the only U.S. town to mull such a measure. Last week, selectmen in the Maine town of Sabattus, about 60 miles from Byron, voted against putting a similar proposal before town residents.

In Georgia, a city leader in Nelson has proposed an ordinance calling on every head of household to have a gun as a way to keep crime down in the city of 1,300 residents, which employs only a single police officer.

The Nelson city council is expected to vote on the gun ownership ordinance on April 1.

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Glenn Adams / AP, file

Michael Hein of Augusta, Maine, holds a sign in front of the Maine State House during a Gun Appreciation Day rally on Jan. 19. In a smaller Maine town, a more powerful gesture in favor of guns has taken shape in a proposal to require firearm ownership.

Residents of a Maine town are expected to vote Monday on whether each household should be required to own a firearm, a decision that has thrust the tiny town of Byron into the heated national debate on gun control.

The vote is scheduled to take place on Monday evening in a potentially rancorous annual town meeting for the western Maine town's 140 residents and will be largely symbolic.

The town's head selectman says the vast majority of households in Byron already have at least one gun, and a requirement to possess guns and ammunition would be unenforceable because Maine law bars municipalities from legislating on firearms.

"It was never my intention to force anyone to own a gun who doesn't want to. My purpose was to make a statement in support of the Second Amendment (to the U.S. Constitution)," said Head Selectman Anne Simmons-Edmund, who proposed the ordinance.

The December shooting rampage that left 26 people dead at a Connecticut elementary school has reignited the national debate over guns. In response, some states have been prompted to tighten gun laws, while other states have sought to keep federal gun measures from being applied within their borders.

Byron is not the only town to mull such a measure. Last week, selectmen in the Maine town of Sabbatus, about 60 miles from Byron, voted against putting a similar proposal before town residents.

In Georgia, a city leader in Nelson has proposed an ordinance calling on every head of household to have a gun as a way to keep down crime in the city of 1,300 residents, which employs only a single police officer.

The Nelson city council is expected to vote on the gun ownership ordinance on April 1.

In Byron, Simmons-Edmund, who is also a police officer in nearby Dixfield, said the measure reflects community concern about the remote area's rising crime rates, which she said have nearly tripled in the last year.

Not all in the town were supportive of the move.

"It gives new meaning to the term 'March Madness,'" said Byron resident Philip Paquette, who has spent the past three decades as a Merchant Marine. "She is infringing on the rights of townspeople. I'm a hunter and own guns, and I have a right to. People also have a right not to own guns."

Simmons-Edmund says she got the idea after a suggestion from her father and fellow Byron resident Bruce Simmons.

"Five days ago, I would have predicted this article would pass," Simmons-Edmund said. "But we've gotten so much media attention, nothing would surprise me. This town has never been so closely scrutinized. It's up to the residents to decide now. And if they shoot it down, I am totally fine with it."

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