Report: Public Remains Divided on Gun Control

[BobbyQuickdraw]

From Rasmussen Reports



Public Remains Divided on Gun Control
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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In the aftermath of two separate shooting incidents in Arvada and Colorado Springs, Colorado, Americans remain evenly divided as to whether or not stricter gun control laws are needed. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% of likely voters say there should be stricter gun control laws while 44% disagree and say stricter laws are not needed. Last April, following the Virginia Tech shooting 45% of adults said there should be stricter laws and 37% disagreed.

There is a strong partisan difference on the issue of gun control. A majority (62%) of Democrats say that the country needs stricter gun control laws. Only 25% of Republicans feel the same way.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of likely voters think that stricter gun control laws would reduce violent crime in the United States, while 22% believe that these laws would actually increase violent crime.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) say that the issue of gun control is at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. That includes 40% who say it is Very Important. Another 28% say the issue is Not Very Important in determining their vote while 9% say it is Not at All Important.

A major case on the individual’s right to keep and bear arms has recently made headlines. The Supreme Court, which has not examined the Second Amendment of the Constitution in seventy years, has accepted a case in November which will determine whether a 31 year old ban of handguns in Washington DC will be lifted. The case, which is expected to be decided in June 2008, will ultimately decide whether the second amendment really does grant the right of all citizens to bear arms.

Fifty percent (50%) of voters say that someone in their house owns a gun. Thirty-two percent (32%) of those with a gun in their home say the U.S. needs stricter gun control laws. Among those who don’t have a gun in their home, 58% say stricter laws are needed.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) have followed recent news stories on the Colorado shootings at least somewhat closely, while a quarter (25%) have not followed them very closely. Only four percent (4%) have not followed the stories at all.

 

[ZeSpectre]

I'd love to see what the questions actually were and how they were phrased.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Typical lib speak. Evenly divided means 80-20 as long as their 20 percent has cash like George Soros to influence things.

 

[Winchester 73]

It's all in the wording of a poll.Look at todays USA Todays poll.Does the 2nd Amendment give the right to individuals to keep and bear arms?
Results:97 percent yes,3 percent no.
And this from a Liberal rag.Hope beats eternal.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

It's all in the wording of a poll.

Actually, it's mostly all in the sampling technique. If you don't have a good sample, the questions are damn near meaningless. Accurate polls use sophisticated sampling techniques. Website polls don't, especially when they get advertised on pro-gun boards. One can't possible expect any kind of accuracy from that sort of thing. It can't even be expected that it is typical of USA Today readers.

 

[Winchester 73]

Agree Jorg.
But 97% to 3% is still over the top no matter what the formula or the readership bias!(Or lack of it.)

 

[acdodd]

Maybe all the gun board members voting put it at 97%.
We may have skewed the results a little.

 

[Winchester 73]

acdodd,then we should stop voting.We're skewering everything and the American public really,really wants to be disarmed and defenseless.
But seriously we can't skewer it to 97%.Not on the liberal oriented USA Today site.
No,its a National epiphany emerging before our eyes.Believe it.

 

[geekWithA.45]

It's been a long time since 50% have admitted to having a gun in a house in a major poll.

 

[Ultrachimp]

We weren't able to skew it up to 97%. There were over 100k votes on there I think

 

[damien]

VPC Disagrees (or lies, your choice)

http://www.vpc.org/studies/gunownership.pdf

VPC reports:

"Gun ownership in America is declining.

During the period 1972 to 2006, the percentage of American households that reported having any guns in the home has dropped nearly 20 percentage points: from a high of 54 percent in 1977 to 34.5 percent in 2006 (see Graphic 1, Graphic 2)."

Who shall we trust, VPC or the impartial polling organization??

 

[Winchester 73]

Kristen Rand and the VPC of course!I'd stake my life on that lady's word!
Cross my heart and hope to die!

 

[Mtnvalley]

We weren't able to skew it up to 97%. There were over 100k votes on there I think

Then again...unless someone is passionately anti-, it's not likely that they're going to go to that site just to vote on that poll. It's also not likely that many of this type person (anti-gun if asked, but not crusading) would even pass along a link to this poll so others of similar mind could go vote.

A quick Googling didn't reveal many antigun-specific forums at all. I'd wager that the average Joe or Jane who doesn't like guns doesn't spend much online time--or much time at all---in his average day talking or thinking about guns.

We, OTOH, have lots of gun boards, and are predisposed to hit a link like that for a quick vote as soon as someone discovers and posts it. Can we skew an online poll that significantly, especially if repeat votes are permitted? Methinks so.

JMHO, but WTFDIK...

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

Polling always indicates a heavy support of people believing the 2A says we as citizens have a right to bear arms.

That doesn't mean they agree, think its relevant, etc etc. They just all know how to read (apparently gun haters dont).

Support for guns has grown over the years. After Columbine gun laws got shoved in everyones face - and they didn't work. People stopped calling for gun control. Being anti-gun is seen as being a fairly negative thing now by most of America.

And now we see an armed citizen stop a mass murder. And after a few unfortunate incidences, no outcries from the public for gun control.

The only people who want more gun-control are the people who make money off of pushing the issue.

 

[BlackBearME]

During the period 1972 to 2006, the percentage of American households that reported having any guns in the home has dropped nearly 20 percentage points: from a high of 54 percent in 1977 to 34.5 percent in 2006 (see Graphic 1, Graphic 2).

Operative word, that. Just because 34.5% reported having guns in the home, doesn't mean that was the case. In 2006, it's quite possible that less people wanted to admit to random survey takers that they did in fact have a gun in the home.

 

[Hook686]

Winchester 73

It's all in the wording of a poll.Look at todays USA Todays poll.Does the 2nd Amendment give the right to individuals to keep and bear arms?
Results:97 percent yes,3 percent no.

What I find interesting is that 97% of the audience viewed gun ownership to be a legally given right, as opposed to a fundimental right that shall not be infringed. Minor point ? I think not.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

There is a strong partisan difference on the issue of gun control. A majority (62%) of Democrats say that the country needs stricter gun control laws. Only 25% of Republicans feel the same way.

Math problem for politicians. If I have 38% of Democrats on my side or indifferent and 75% of Republicans on my side or indifferent, how many more Democrat voters do you need before gun control does not bite you hard at the polls? Especially when 40% list it as very important and another 29% as somehwat important.

 

[SWMAN]

Instead of punishing innocent gun owners by taking their rights away from them without cause, why don't we just jail potential violent criminals as a preventive measure so they won't become potential murderers in the future. Makes as much sense to me as having gun control. I'm sure the antigunners would agree with my "common sense" approach.

 

[Standing Wolf]

We have the Second Amendment to keep the nation's civil rights out of the hands of fake pollsters.

 

[Robert Hairless]

Good point, Standing Wolf. Public opinion is irrelevant, laws can make no difference, and the forthcoming decision of the Supreme Court will not matter. The Second Amendment is all the protection gun owners need.

 

[cambeul41]

Opinion has nothing to do with right or wrong, truth or fiction.

Basing laws on opinion polls is nonsense.

Laws based on anything but facts – lies, exaggerations, mischaracterizations, hypotheticals, fantasies, delusions, or opinion polls – should not be laws.

Laws that do not do what they are purported to do should not be laws.

Laws that encourage a state of denial should not be laws.

Laws that focus enforcement against honest citizens rather than against criminals should not be laws.

Laws should follow the dictum, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

 

[kludge]

It's all in the wording of a poll.Look at todays USA Todays poll.Does the 2nd Amendment give the right to individuals to keep and bear arms?
Results:97 percent yes,3 percent no.

Even that wording is wrong... It should be...

"Does the 2ndy Amendment protect the right of the individual to keep and bear arms?"

 

[RPCVYemen]

We weren't able to skew it up to 97%. There were over 100k votes on there I think.

There are silly folks on THR who, for reasons only they understand, want to "win" every poll.

There was a poll last night on some college website as to how folks felt about CCW on college campuses. The results were running pretty solidly against CCW on the college campus. I suspect that this probably represented fairly accurately the feeling of the students/faculty on that campus.

Then someone posted one of the silly "let's go flood this poll" messages. Within an hour, the poll had flipped around. Some bozo bragged he had been able to vote twice by voting from home and at work!

Website polls are meaningless as long as at least one side plays "flood the poll".

Then again...unless someone is passionately anti-, it's not likely that they're going to go to that site just to vote on that poll. It's also not likely that many of this type person (anti-gun if asked, but not crusading) would even pass along a link to this poll so others of similar mind could go vote.

This is the key. For most folks, RKBA is just not that important. Folks for whom it is important are overwhelmingly pro-RKBA.

The whole silly "flood the poll" games is not very important.

What is important is that we not delude ourselves. One of the fundamental issues with propaganda is the trap of beginning to believe it yourself. If college students/faculty are really 90% opposed to CCW on campus, we need to deal with that fact.

Even if we strike a valiant, heroic, downright decimating blow for freedom by flooding the poll - and should be counted among Jefferson, Madison and Patrick Henry for our courage with our mice - we need to keep clear about the underlying facts.

Mike

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Sixty-nine percent (69%) say that the issue of gun control is at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. That includes 40% who say it is Very Important. Another 28% say the issue is Not Very Important in determining their vote while 9% say it is Not at All Important.

Here's another statistic that's being reported in a misleading way. The article makes it sound like 69% favor gun control. But the question was whether gun control is an important issue. The answer to that question is "yes" regardless of if you're a fervent anti- or a die-hard 2A supporter.

Next question ...

 

[GEM]

The problem with simplistic poll questions is that they miss important nuances.

More legit research has found that:

1. People favor gun control
2. People favor the right of folks to own guns

Contradictory - no. If you ask - gun control is taken to mean by most folks to be policies that stop criminals from getting guns and not law abiding citizens have firearms. If you ask about a total gun ban, confiscation or turn ins - the number in favor drops precipitously.

Only a very few people support the total ban.