GS Town

GS Town, short for Gudersnipe System Town, is a town, city, or region entirely under the jurisdiction of the Gudersnipe Foundation. GS towns are usually millitary bases on some level, though larger townships may be centered around industrial plants or manufacturing of some type. There ware many entire planets that qualify as "GS Towns".

Location

GS Towns mainly exist in Foundation-controlled space, however there are many in joint space, particularly around strategic assests such as GATE hubs and weapon's caches. The Utops Cluster is a total-control-zone, with all planets directly under Foundation jurisdiction.

System of Government

A GS Town is under the control of a commanding officer (See GS Ranks), typically a general or admiral depending on size and population. The police force are GSMPs. The commander is given a certain level of autonomy; however regulations must be met or exceeded.

Community Involvment

Under Foundation law, the commanding officer is not required to involve civilians in the operation of a GS Town; but is not expressly forbidden. The level and power of civilian politicians varies widely and has no correlation to size. With most public services provided by the Foundation, there is little or no actual need for civilian leadership, beyond organizing the occasional street fair.

Gun Control

Gun control is extremly strict in GS Towns, with civilians outright forbidden to own handguns and a penalty of up to 25 years in prison for each offense. That said, rifles and shotguns are widely available, and in many towns do not even require a permit. There is usually a waiting period though licences can be obtained which negate this (the prequisite requires that you already own a firearm and have no criminal record). Assualt weapons can also easily be obtained, though these do require licensing and registration.

There are also strict penalties for modifying weapons, specifically if these modifications are to make the gun smaller and easier to conceal. Carrying a weapon in public is typically illegal. Most local laws stipulate that it must be in some sort of gun case, though in some areas this law is not enforced at all (so-called "petty laws" are at the discretion of the C.O.)

Further, gun safety is taught in school as part of the compulsory education, as well as target shooting (usually during physical-education classes). Most schools even field competative shooting teams.

Reasoning

The reason for handguns being banned is because most gun crimes are committed with hand guns. Small, concealable weapons are the most dangerous. Rifles are encouraged because the civilian population is technically considered the last line of defense.

Basic Gudersnipe logic: 'what do you do with defenseless, unarmed civilians? Give them guns and teach them how to shoot'. Though the civilian population lacks the sort of training and discipline of the millitary, basic instruction in firarms makes it much easier to put together a fighting force in an emergency.