Officers Emphatically Say “NO” to Gun Control.

[TheeBadOne]

Officers Emphatically Say “NO” to Gun Control.

A Police Magazine survey reveals that the overwhelming majority of American law enforcement officers believe tougher gun control laws would not improve public safety or reduce crime. This flies in the face of contentions by gun control advocates that American police officers generally favor gun control.

Police conducted a survey of its readership in January and February. Invitations to participate in their survey were sent to 8,794 active and retired LEO’s. 1,572 responded. That’s an 18% response. Now I know there are some doubters who would question whether or not 1,500 people (out of 8,800) can represent the approximate 1.2 million LEO’s in the U.S today. Consider that 10,000 Neilsen families get to determine what 300 million Americans get to watch on television and the profit-and-loss statements of the major networks.

The results? Gun control was opposed by 88.2% of the respondents. Those that opposed gun control did so for the following reasons:

76.5% believe the only law abiding citizens would obey the lay anyway, and 12.7% believe that criminals would know the public was unarmed. 9.2% believe there is already an availability of guns anyway, and 1.6% believe people would just use other weapons instead.

Out of the 11.8% that support gun control, 36.1% believe that it would help reduce gun crimes. 25.8% believe it would keep guns out of the hands of criminals, and 30.4% believe it would help prevent gun-related accidents.

The Police survey also revealed that the strongest support for gun control among police officers is found in the administrative and command ranks. Not surprising considering most of them seem to have lost touch with reality anyway. 227 Police Chiefs participated in the survey, and 23% of them supported gun control. 23 Sheriffs participated and NONE of them support gun control. Only 11% of patrol officers, deputies, troopers, and sergeants expressed support for gun control.

The most interesting result of this survey is that 65.7% of police officers responded that they WOULD NOT assist in the confiscation of firearms from owners law-abiding citizens if ordered to do so. That’s right two thirds of cops would refuse orders to take your guns away from you if you are an honest, law-abiding citizen. Surprising? It didn’t surprise me. Especially when you consider the following:

84% of the respondents said that they shot before becoming a police officer, and 95.7% own additional firearms, other than their duty sidearm.

How many guns do the respondents own? 6.8% own one (1), 11% own two (2), 9.9% own three (3), 7.6% own four (4), and 64.7% own more than four (4+)…

The types of firearms recreation the respondents enjoyed (with multiple answers permitted) are: Hunting (40.1%), Competition Shooting (26%), Plinking (43.6%), Target Shooting (73.9%), and other (5.3%). Only 16.2% answered that they don’t shoot recreationally.

[skeet]

TBO...Glad you posted this. Althought these facts are pretty much known by us shooting people...the general public should get to see these facts. Wish more of the leo's had responded

[Dan Morris]

Now, if the mass media will only publish this....oops, I forgot, journalism died many years ago......replaced by sensationalism!
Dan

[skeeter@ccia.com]

yes be nice if more could hear these numbers but unless you listen to hunting/shooting sports you will never know. You can't expect to learn about how to hunt turkey in a golf magazine. Maybe there is a way to get a little clip in the other magazines somehow?

[MN Tonester]

I work for a small city police department. I can emphatically state that the majority of officers oppose gun control and would much rather see "criminal control." Many of the officers hunt (as was mentioned in the survey background). The police officers that are pro-gun control are those who are political appointees and often reflect the agenda of the mayor/council that appoints them. We had a deputy chief that was of that sort but happily, he retired. He recently was in the running for Chief of Police and the rank and file were pretty concerned. He didn't get the job but has now been given the position of city "human rights" commissioner. The guy likes to celebrate "diversity." He is outspoken for gun control. Yikes!