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It was a survey done back on 1994 by LTC Guy Cunningham as part of a Masters thesis. It was called the "Combat Arms Survey" or "Twenty-nine Palms Survey". I remember it being a huge deal when it was first leaked. The responses were broken down by time in service and basically, the younger more inexperienced respondees were more likely to follow an order to fire upon American citizens if under orders to disarm American citizens. The purpose of the survey was to show how uninformed many of the younger soldiers were about the Constitution and history of the country.

Unfortunately, the majority of the younger soldiers agreed with this question:

46. The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-approved firearms. A 30-day amnesty period is established for these firearms to be turned over to the local authorities. At the end of this period, a number of irregular citizen groups and defiant individuals refuse to turn over their firearms to authority. Consider the following statement: [SD D A SA NO] "I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the United States government."

I am having a hell of a time finding the survey or official results on the survey.

I was able to find this link on Free Republic (of all places) discussing the survey (http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a385270a0236b.htm). Serious questions about the survey are raised of course. It seems, according to some posters, that a large number of Marines refused to take the survey, thus grossly skewing any results. Also the infamous question 46 results are broken down as such...

The Responses
Of the 300 U.S. Marines asked this question, 264, or 88% of them responded. The outcome of the survey was as follows:

Strongly disagree - 127 (42.33%)
Disagree - 58 (19.33%)
Agree - 56 (18.67%)
Strongly agree - 23 (7.67%)
No opinion - 36 (12.00%)

Total: 300 (100.00%)

That would mean over 61% disagree and could be assumed would not fire on American citizens in order to enforce gun confiscation.

12% reportedly have no opinion, and 23.34% would agree and hence assumed would fire upon American citizens. A disturbing number, but hardly a majority as claimed.

Again, I am having trouble finding certified results on line. If you have a link, please present it.

But until someone can show me a scientific poll was conducted and the results indicate that a majority of US Marine would fire on American citizens to confiscate firearms, I am raising the BS flag.

I was born in Missouri...

Show me!

I am still finding it difficult to find the actual survey and results, but I can find articles discussing the survey. This one (http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2003/libe209-20030203-05.html) provides this interesting tidbit...

"The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms. A thirty (30) day amnesty period is permitted for these firearms to be turned over to the local authorities. At the end of this period, a number of citizen groups refuse to turn over their firearms. Consider the following statement: I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government."

"Based on the disagreement expressed by 61 percent of the Marines, Cunningham concluded that "a complete unit breakdown would occur in a unit tasked to execute this mission."

Twenty-Nine Palms Survey: What Really Motivated Its Author? by John F. McManus
The New American Magazine October 2, 1994

It appears that my BS flag was a good call. A majority of those surveyed (even in this grossly unscientific poll) would not fire on American citizens in order to enforce gun confiscation.