Posted on 04/20/2007 12:47:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Most Americans don't believe that stricter U.S. gun control policies would help prevent tragedies such as this week's shootings at Virginia Tech, a new MSN-Zogby poll shows.
While 59 percent don't think stricter gun control policies would help, 36 percent believe they could make a difference by helping to prevent future shootings.
More than two in three Americans (69 percent) believe the recent shootings at Virginia Tech were the actions of a deranged man determined to inflict mayhem and could not have been prevented. But 16 percent believe stricter controls of guns and ammunition would have prevented the tragedy.
The interactive survey of 1,336 adults nationwide was conducted April 17-18 with a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points. Younger adults are more likely than older adults to see stricter gun policies as a means of preventing shootings: among those 18 to 29 years of age, 39 percent say more stringent gun control could avert tragic shootings, compared to 26 percent of those age 65 and older.
But more than half (53 percent) of those age 18 to 29 say increased gun control won't help, a stance that becomes increasingly prevalent as adults get older. Nearly three in four (72 percent) of those age 65 and older don't think tighter gun control policies will prevent shootings.
Even if more people were allowed to carry guns for protection, 54 percent of Americans don't believe it would help prevent tragedies such as the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the poll shows. But overall, 38 percent believe more armed Americans could prevent future tragedies.
I couldn’t but help notice that the languge begs the reader to ignore the large percent who don’t favor more gun control. Notice the placement of the “while”, “belive” and “but”. It just strikes me as begging the reader to disbelieve the majority opinion.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1820535/posts
See above to see which Presidential contender is right in line with sensible American thinking on gun control. Excerpts:
“Virginia, like 39 other states, allows citizens with training and legal permits to carry concealed weapons. That means that Virginians regularly sit in movie theaters and eat in restaurants among armed citizens. They walk, joke and rub shoulders everyday with people who responsibly carry firearms — and are far safer than they would be in San Francisco, Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, New York City, or Washington, D.C., where such permits are difficult or impossible to obtain.
...
In recent years, however, armed Americans — not on-duty police officers — have successfully prevented a number of attempted mass murders. Evidence from Israel, where many teachers have weapons and have stopped serious terror attacks, has been documented. Supporting, though contrary, evidence from Great Britain, where strict gun controls have led to violent crime rates far higher than ours, is also common knowledge.
So Virginians asked their legislators to change the university’s “concealed carry” policy to exempt people 21 years of age or older who have passed background checks and taken training classes. The university, however, lobbied against that bill, and a top administrator subsequently praised the legislature for blocking the measure.
The logic behind this attitude baffles me, but I suspect it has to do with a basic difference in worldviews. Some people think that power should exist only at the top, and everybody else should rely on “the authorities” for protection....”
Yeah, they're called liberals.
I think the Zogbys are Christians.
“No I think what changed American public’s view was what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.”
I think it just reinforced the concept three years after the attack, but either way its good for gun owners.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.