Gallup Poll-The Safety of Guns

[longwatch]

Interesting poll by Gallup about American attitudes towards firearms. I think the results are showing that we are winning minds to the pro gun side. Get the link while its hot, it won't be up for long. It should also be available as a free podcast at the iTunes shop soon.

http://www.galluppoll.com/

 

[DRZinn]

Good to see, but whether or not people think it makes me safer has no bearing on my right to keep a gun for self-defense and even less on my decision to do so.

 

[Autolycus]

Good news for once. To bad they did not ask about carrying a gun.

 

[Lucky]

So 1953, cold war intimidating as ever, millions of people back from military service or working in factories building weapons, and a vast majority of people polled felt that only police should own pistols???

 

[armoredman]

I strongly believe thier 4 out of 10 people owning firearms is way off -in today's world, I am willing to bet that many people polled with that question simply felt it was a bad idea to let anybody know they have firearms of any kind in thier home, and I cannot blame them. I would hazard an uneducated WAG that the actual figure is closer to 7 in 10.

 

[Zen21Tao]

I strongly believe thier 4 out of 10 people owning firearms is way off -in today's world, I am willing to bet that many people polled with that question simply felt it was a bad idea to let anybody know they have firearms of any kind in thier home, and I cannot blame them. I would hazard an uneducated WAG that the actual figure is closer to 7 in 10.

I think you may have your 7 out of 10 figure if you limited your sample to people that were legally allowed to own a gun, could afford to own a gun, and lived in free states were it is releatively easy to legally buy a gun. I think the 4 out of 10 sounds reasonable when you consider everyone (impoverished, oppressed, felons, illegals, etc.) in society in the poll.

 

[beerslurpy]

I think the results of the poll are very good news. A clear majority thinking guns in the home are a good thing says that we are doing something right.

Here is the meat of it, right here:


Seems like the antis are mostly urban Democrats, no? Say it ain't so guys.

Edit: oh intruiging, the types of people that own and dont own guns.
Interesting
-people with salaries between 30k and 75k own lots of guns, while poorer and richer groups own far fewer
-southerners own craploads of guns
-old men own craploads of guns
-old women own guns rarely
-liberals are at the bottom of the heap
-non-whites tend to own guns very rarely, probably because of the gun-banning areas where most black people live. Lot of black people in the south definitely own guns.

 

[Lucky]

53 to 41 isn't very big. Might be more effective for R's to put their own house in order, so to speak, when 35 out of 100 are anti's.

 

[xd9fan]

Hey Gallup.....Giddie up on having a national poll asking americas if only the Govt should be allowed to have all the guns? or is that just to direct of a question for them.....

 

[beerslurpy]

They asked that actually, but only about handguns. 2/3rds said that the government shouldnt be the only group with handguns. I assume rifles and shotguns are going to be viewed far more favorably because they arent used solely for self defense.

 

[taliv]

"4 of 10" is a little misleading too. the actual numbers were like 43%/54%/3%

and i've read a lot of commentary previously on the accuracy of those numbers since it's basically self-reporting. the interesting thing is of course the dramatic changes like 51% reported ownership in OCT'93 and 38% reported ownership in JUL'96 (they didn't ask the question in '94/95 apparently) and people changing their responses based on climate after the gun ban seems a more believable explanation than a several million gun owners dumping all their guns

although i'm too lazy to look up the article

 

[unixguy]

bad poll questions!!??

Do you think having a gun in the house makes it -- [ROTATED: a safer place to be (or) a more dangerous place to be]?

Does anybody else read this question, and immediately think to themselves "I think I know what they mean, but on the other hand maybe they meant to ask it exactly the way they did"?

Here's what I mean--
= if I didn't have guns in my house, my house would be safer FOR CRIMINALS.
= I believe that statistically speaking, MOST home invasions don't lead to someone dying or being shot. However, even IF "only" X% of home invasions lead to someone (including perps) getting shot, and my firearms might tip that by a single percentage point, I'm still going to defend my family against that sort of crime. (So in this case, the net "safety level" of my home may have just gone down.)

My answer when I read the question was "Depends on whether you're a criminal or a guest."

Would it have changed the meaning of the question too much to ask it this way:
Does having a gun in your house increase your safety, or decrease it?


Disclaimer: Yes, sometimes I do worry that I am pedantic.

 

[SoCalShooter]

*Gallup has asked this question four times, and in each instance, a majority has favored the "enforce current laws and don't pass new gun laws" position rather than the "pass new gun laws in addition to enforcing the current laws more strictly" alternative. *

Interesting...thanks for the link, Gallup is very thourough polling company in my opinion...unlike CNN, MSNBC etc they take several sets of data and get an average from it not just one poll and that is the answer.

 

[thexrayboy]

I'm not one to put a whole lot of stock in opinion polls. Its too easy to word questions to elicit responses that support a pet agenda. The only use I have seen people use for these surveys is to try and effect a change in the only kind of poll that counts, the ballot box. Granted Gallup is probably far lest biased than the media surveys we hear and see on TV. However I am always reminded of the quote attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Mark Twain et.al.

"Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics"

An opinion poll is just another statistic subject to being mutated as needed.