Journal smittyoneeach's Journal: Whoops. Cops don't fancy gun control 8
At Reason.
"Contrary to what the mainstream media and certain politicians would have us believe," writes Police One Editor in Chief Doug Wyllie, "police overwhelmingly favor an armed citizenry, would like to see more guns in the hands of responsible people, and are skeptical of any greater restrictions placed on gun purchase, ownership, or accessibility."
Well, yeah (Score:1)
Maybe they understand that if we begin to confiscate peoples' guns, we have to start by disarming the police. It's only logical.
That is actually not a large number of responses (Score:3)
PoliceOneâ(TM)s Gun Policy & Law Enforcement survey was conducted between March 4 and March 13, 2013. More than 15,000 officers completed the survey, which was promoted by PoliceOne exclusively to its 400,000 registered members, comprised of verified law enforcement professionals. Only current, former or retired law enforcement personnel were eligible to participate in the survey.
So of their total member pool, less than 10% bothered to fill out the survey. So making the claim that these 15,000 people represent all of law enforcement across the country is dubious, as any opinion survey like this is likely to draw those with the strongest opinions. The fact that they did not give any actual information on the geographic distribution of the respondents suggests that these 15,000 are not a very good reflection of American law enforcement as a whole. The survey point that said 80% of respondents believed an armed civilian in Newton or Aurora would have been able to reduce the casualties also suggests this is not a group of people that accurately reflect our country as a whole.
Re: (Score:2)
If this were a random sampling, it would be about the best rate possible. In fact, 15,000 gives you 99% confidence rate of 1% margin of error.
Of course, this isn't a random sample, but it is still a very good result. You're right that it will tend to draw "the strongest opinions," but the survey was apparently offered to everyone in the population, and 10 percent is a fairly good result for such a survey. It's not like it's a survey on MSNBC's home page. It was specific to the people in an organization w
Re: (Score:2)
That all said, there are a lot of cops who hate their jobs and want to reduce civilian access to guns.
On Southland last week, one of the cops went off on a rant about how guns on the streets make his job hard and anything he can do to make his job easier by getting them off the streets, he's for.
Such a cop hates his job, which is to serve the people and secure their rights. If he is more interested in his safety than in doing his job, then he should turn in his badge and get another gig.
Re: (Score:2)
10% is a lot more than the percentage of the population that answer national political polls and such.
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that they did not give any actual information on the geographic distribution of the respondents suggests that these 15,000 are not a very good reflection of American law enforcement as a whole.
Does it?
You and your deceptive headlines (Score:2)
It's not news that cops nationwide are still pro second amendment, although considering all the efforts from the other side it's noteworthy. The trade rag I read last (sorry, forget the name) made the point that the ONLY response to the school shooting last year endorsed by a plurality of police in their survey was making it easier to get a concealed weapons permit.
I have several close relatives who were and/or are in law enforcement, and I have to say, we need to be very appreciative of each and every good
Re: (Score:2)