Posted on 04/08/2013 1:11:57 PM PDT by EXCH54FE
SAN FRANCISCO – PoliceOne.com, the leading online resource for law enforcement, today released findings from a national survey of police professionals that provide insight into the opinions of American law enforcement regarding gun control policies and the root causes of and potential solutions to gun crime in the United States.
The survey, which was conducted in early March 2013, received 15,000 responses from law enforcement professionals. It found that the overall attitude of law enforcement is strongly anti-gun legislation and pro-gun rights, with the belief that an armed citizenry is effective in stopping crime. Response percentages varied only slightly when analyzed by rank and department size. Among the results: •86 percent feel the currently proposed legislation would have no effect or a negative effect on improving officer safety
•Similarly, 92 percent feel that banning semi-automatic firearms, or “assault weapons,” would have no effect or a negative effect on reducing violent crime
•Demonstrating the opinion that the best way to combat gun crime is through harsher punishment, 91 percent said the use of a firearm while perpetrating a crime should lead to a stiff, mandatory sentence with no plea bargains. Likewise, 59 percent believe increasing punishment severity for unlicensed dealers would reduce crime
•Respondents were more split on background checks, with 31 percent agreeing that mental health background checks in all gun sales would help reduce mass shootings, while 45 percent disagreed
•71 percent support law enforcement leaders who have publicly refused to enforce more restrictive gun laws within their jurisdictions
•82 percent believe gun buyback or turn-in programs are ineffective in reducing the level of gun violence
•91 percent support the concealed carry of firearms by civilians who have not been convicted of a felony and/or have not been deemed psychologically incapable
•Likewise, 80 percent feel that legally-armed citizens would likely have reduced the number of casualties in recent mass shooting incidents
•38 percent believe the biggest cause of gun violence in the United States is the “decline in parenting and family values”. This was trailed by “overly lax parole and short sentencing standards” at 15 percent and “pop culture influence” (eg. violent movies and video games) at 14 percent
The survey was promoted by PoliceOne exclusively to its 400,000 registered members, comprised of individually-verified law enforcement professionals. Only current, former or retired law enforcement personnel were eligible to participate in the survey.
Respondents comprised a variety of ranks from departments of all sizes, with the majority representing departments of greater than 500 officers. Of those who took the survey, 80 percent were current law enforcement officers and 20 percent were former/retired law enforcement.
“This survey captures the perspective of an audience that has an intimate professional connection to gun policies in our country, yet is rarely heard from as a group in discussions on the issue,” said Alex Ford, CEO of the Praetorian Group, PoliceOne’s parent company. “Our standing as the leading online community in the law enforcement market enabled us to gather what we feel is the most meaningful sampling of police attitudes about gun control ever compiled. There is clearly a wide range of opinions regarding this issue nationwide and we believe it’s important for our audience’s voice to be heard.”
I guess that is possible. ;)
Good Post
As Law Enforcement employees become more a part of the Federal Government, expect this percentage of public service “you know our so called government helpers” support to fall, especially the upholders of our laws. Today we have their backing but do not expect this to hold for much longer. After all, their salaries depend on us providing them and they will do whatever is required to keep their monies on track. It does seem like a vicious circle to me.
This does seem to be a continuing effort to undermine the members of law enforcement and also undermine the Constitution. I doubt that we will have the right to bear arms for many more years. This is an incremental effect of socialism/federalism/Marxism and just about all other types of “isms”. Eventually, the power of the people will be undermined without regard of our Constitution. It’s all for the good of the people you know...or of course the children.
Pretty much agrees with everything the NRA has been saying for years, yet the NRA is portrayed in the lamestream media as out of touch. So typical.
As a retired thirty year LEO I have always supported and encouraged citizens to arm themselves Why? Because it is a Constitutional right, but more importantly sometimes we just can’t get there fast enough.
There are 855,000 LE professionals in USA. This survey represents not even 2%. [1.75%]
Wow that’s a HUGE number.
No wonder our state and local budgets are in such trouble.
There are 313,914,040 Americans. A recent poll says that 90% of Americans are in favor of universal background checks.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted March 26-April 1, with 1,711 registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
The latter survey represents squat.
Great information. Thanks.
Bookmarked!
“This survey represents not even 2%. [1.75%]”
That’s a huge sample, statistically.
yep- it`s better than nothing- but I`ll bet there is a large disparity between city LEO`s and small-town LEO`s.
The survey numbers are, on their face, encouraging, and I hope they are an accurate indicator of LE as a whole. I'm not familiar w/ policeone.com, so I'm not sure if it tends to slant right, but there's the danger of that bias in the sample leading to a misleading skew.
I would also think that police actively involved in a profession oriented website might be those who got into law enforcement for the right reasons,(i.e., sense of community service, a legitimate passion for justice, etc.), and may not represent the views of those who signed up for the badge and the gun, the union perks, etc., which would also distort the sample.
This includes the BUM Obummer who cannot even purchase a gun because he cannot pass the FFL background check.
This disqualifies him, the BUM Obummer, to be president because he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and he cannot even buy a gun. hahaha!
Common crooks use 'no questions asked' buy back programs to dump weapons low quality weapons they've stolen - then they use the cash to upgrade.
The lowlife who shoots your daughter with a new weapon? He got the money for his shiny new gun from a 'buyback'...
We’ll see where the majority of them stand when “the order” is given and their pensions are on the line.
I have long felt that using a gun in commission of a crime should result in a mandatory “forever” sentence to a jail in a backward African nation where we build the facility and contract for locals to oversee the prisoners care and feeding. Cheaper by far, no danger of escapes, and pretty soon no one would think of carrying a gun for criminal purposes
bkmk
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