The Great UN Gun Debate

[alan]

Re The Great UN Gun Debate, held in London recently, a dvd of the debate is available through the NRA. Price is very nominal. Debaters were Wayne LaPierre, you all know who he is, and Rebecca Peters of International Action Network on Small Arms, a UN related anti gun organization that is pushing the following motion in the UN. That the U.S. Senate should support the proposed UN treaty that bans private ownership of guns. The debate ran about 90 minutes, and provides a clear airing of the anti gun/anti individual rights agenda of this anti gun organization, and what the UN is up to in this regard.

There was also an on line "ballot" held after the debate, where people who had viewed the debate on pay per view television were able to "vote". In a conversation I had with the NRA earlier today, I got the following data regarding the results of his "vote". The position taken by LaPierre, pro gun, pro individual rights received about 65 % of the vote, the anti gun/anti individual rights side, represented by Ms. Peters received about 23 % of the vote. I assume that the remainder were "undecided". One assumes that "votes" were cast by viewers from wherever the debate broadcast was available.

Re public opinion in the U.S., it would appear that claims to the effect that 70-80% of Americans support gun control would, respecting the results of this "vote", be even more questionable than such claims had been earlier, and that would seem to be rather questionable indeed. Finally, one remains curious concerning what coverage, if any, was available regarding the results of this vote, or the debate itself, from "mass media", given what appear to have been the results, above mentioned? Not much, it appears, leaving one wondering as to WHY?

 

[ScorpioVI]

I was wondering why the poll result were never posted, even though they said the result would be announced Friday of that week. Now I know why, the majority of voters told the antis to go fudge themselves, and since the results doesn't agree with their views... the nixed it.

 

[Standing Wolf]

...claims to the effect that 70-80% of Americans support gun control...

That's one of those blatantly ludicrous lies the leftist extremists trot out whenever a state considers CCW and shall issue laws, or the federal Congress decides to let the so-called "assault weapons" ban lapse, et cetera. I'd believe 70% to 80% of leftist extremist journalist support so-called "gun control," but polling leftist extremist journalists isn't quite the same as polling Americans.

 

[beerslurpy]

Its all in how you word the poll.

If you asked people if they cared whether a semiautomatic rifle had a plastic or a wood stock, or what angle the grip is at, or whether it folds, they would probably be split between "why should I care?" and "no, that is an obviously retarded thing to make a law about."

If you ask people "do you think that rapid fire military weapons that penetrate armor and are used by criminals to kill police should be outlawed?" most people would say yes because they think its some kind of question about machine guns or criminals being allowed to have guns.

The gun issue seems to divide people into three camps:
- about half of voters: have guns, like guns, see gun control as the enemy, well informed on technical issues and the politics of this issue
- the other half: dont have guns, dont care about guns, know that they shoot bullets and are generally dangerous, doesnt think about it much
- about 5 percent of voters: doesnt have guns, doesnt like guns, wants to take guns away from everyone. Follows the issue closely but is usually not well informed on technical issues. All guns are bad.

I think that the 5 percent are starting to realize that the non-gun-owning half of voters arent very motivated on the issue beyond responding to fear-mongering. However, the antis have cried wolf too many times, and people just dont get worked up about guns anymore. They may hold some very anti-gun opinions, but they dont vote on those opinions. If anything, I think most of the gun-indifferent group probably sees guns in a more positive light since 9/11 and are more scared about terrorists than about guns.

 

[PaleRyder]

To me, the UN = a bunch of retards, so there you go.