USA Today Poll

[cosermann]

The stats say, "support for handgun control is at an all time low." Great. There's also a poll question: "Does having a gun in the home make it a safer or more dangerous place to be?"
Come on, let's rack up some numbers!

USA TODAY Snapshots - USATODAY.com

Looked around and did not see it already posted. If it's a dupe, I'm sure someone will let me know!

 

[CSK22]

Looks like we are doing well

Also at the top: "support for handgun control is at an all time low" '09 is at 20% (seems kinda high) but appears to be the lowest in a long time.

 

[leftsock]

Does having a gun in the home make it a safer or more dangerous place to be?

Well, there are a lot of quantifiers that need to be added to this question to make it a little more clear cut. A gun isn't a magic talisman for protection against bad guys. The users need to be trained and practiced in it's use and safety; it can't just be laying around loaded where just anyone could get their hands on it, nor unloaded and locked up where it couldn't be retrieved in an emergency. Generally, I'll say safer, but if the homeowner isn't knowledgeable or diligent, it could be more dangerous.

Of course, I'm preaching to the choir here.

 

[HandK]

Voted, 79% at the time I voted.

 

[Hornett]

Still 79%
How many times can we vote?
Can anyone from Chicago tell me?

 

[Bill of Rights]

79% Safer
14% More dangerous
7% Don't know

1348 total votes.

 

[Shadowbeach]

.

 

[SSGSAD]

I just now voted, 12:37 P.M. and there are 79 % safer 15 % more dangerous, and 7 % not sure total votes.... 1566.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Those polls are stupid and always are stupid regardless if it's the anti doing a push poll or the NRA. This one is no different.

Does having a gun in the home make it a safer or more dangerous place to be?

It's a stupid question. It doesn't matter. All that matters is do you have the RIGHT to have one and make the decision for YOUR SELF.

Does having gasoline at home make it a safer or more dangerous place to be?

Does having a hammer in the home make it a safer or more dangerous place to be?

Polls are for the same stupid weak people who would stand at the front of a lynch mob looking back for support for something they are incapable of on their own or too cowardly or lazy to do on their own.

They took a poll every day during the Salem witch trials. They should have hung the first person to ask. Poll takers should be hung from the other end of the lawyers rope.

 

[femurphy77]

Guns are bad, 'mkay! Black guns are even worse, 'mkay! Are there any other questions? That's why guns should be outlawed 'mkay!!

 

[Que]

I voted "more dangerous" because I thought they were talking about the intruder.

 

[pudly]

Those polls are stupid and always are stupid regardless if it's the anti doing a push poll or the NRA. This one is no different.

The importance of these polls is not whether the Constitution says we have the right, but in affecting public opinion. The more people see that there is strong support for RKBA, the more people will believe that is not simply a 18th-century anachronism, but current public opinion. Don't discount the power of PR.

 

[evansvillethompsongunner]

It's not a scientific poll. Self-selection eliminates randomness.

 

[dburkhead]

Still 79% at 1854 votes.

 

[TheCapulet]

My vote made 80%! :P

 

[GregD]

Thanks for the link, got my vote in.

 

[NWIeng]

81% safer

 

[Captain Bligh]

...A gun isn't a magic talisman for protection against bad guys. The users need to be trained and practiced in it's use and safety...

Roger that.

So there's this guy that has had a permit for years, at least 10 or more. He carries regularly, if not daily. I invited him to go to shooting with me. He declined. One thing led to another and I asked how often he went to the range. He said he fired a box of ammo through the gun when he first got it to become familiar with it. Hadn't been back since that time.

He has as much right to carry as I do. Still, the guy scares me and I no longer care to be around him when he is carrying. I am suspect of his judgement and what he is going to do next. Oh, yeah, did I mention the only time he fired his gun since after first buying it was when he had a negligent discharge and shot himself? DOH.

But, I digress. These polls mean nothing because they don't take a random sample of people. Look at what we are doing here: putting out the call to bomb the poll with pro-gun votes. That may serve a purpose, but when the poll is over there is no way it's a reliable representation of a cross-section of people. If the poll goes our way, it may only mean that gun owners are more passionate about the issue and therefore more likely to hit the poll, or it may mean that that they're better organized to get their friends to hit a poll to influence an outcome. Beyond that, its meaningless.