New York State Police (courtesy capitalnews9.com)

I’m not a statistician. And I’m a little bit suspicious of a poll run by “a learning community advancing the ideals of a liberal arts education, rooted in its identity as a Franciscan and Catholic institution.” But Sienna Research Institute subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. And they were kind enough to send me the raw data and questions for their poll. [Click here for the pdf.] So I’m going to accept their findings. Q12: “As you may have heard, New York’s Governor and Legislature recently enacted the toughest gun control law in the country. Do you support or oppose the state’s new gun law?” A clear majority of those polled gave a thumbs-up to the wildly unconstitutional SAFE Act . . .

Sixty-five percent of 1,154 New York State registered voters supported the laws, 35 percent opposed. Needless to say, the results were split along party lines. Eighty-two percent of Democrats supported the legislation vs. 33 percent of Republicans.

Q13 asks “Some have said that the state’s new gun law was passed in haste, without enough time for careful review or to gage whether or not there was public support for the new law. They point to the fact that the Governor and Legislature have already admitted that corrections to the new law need to be enacted. Supporters say the law was long overdue and was needed. Which of the following two statements comes closest to your opinion:”

Fifty-six percent chose: “The law was needed and while passed quickly was the right thing to do.”

Forty-two percent chose “The law was rushed through without adequately considering public opinion and the effect the law would have.”

Two percent had no opinion.

Given the political makeup of the states where gun rights are at risk of new civilian disarmament legislation—e.g., Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island— SRI poll would tend to indicate that gun owners living in these areas are f*ked.

This despite (or because of) a Quinnipiac University poll that found NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s post-SAFE Act favorability ratings fell from 74-13 percent approval rating in December to a 59-28 percent favorability rating in January.

In truth, if not for the United States Constitution this would be both a done deal and an irrecoverable assault on the right to keep and bear arms. That and gun owners’ ability to make themselves heard.

 

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73 COMMENTS

  1. Put a Nazi flag behind that podium and I would swear I have seen that picture somewhere before. Hmmmmm.

        • So it basically is a Nazi rally? Gotta give the troops their daily dose of brainwashing that they are the superior race before sending them out to beat the slaves.

  2. Sixty-two percent of New York residents are already slaves. This is merely supportive of the fact.

    One gets the representatives one deserves, it’s said. That sounds about right, in the case of the Empire State, which is aptly named.

      • Other states are the same way. Look at Pennsylvania for instance- pretty much every county voted Republican in the last election except for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; but as a whole the state voted Democrat.

    • “The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution”.
      Thomas Jefferson

  4. Roughly half of Americans think that the Constitution goes “too far” in its free speech protections…and one in five high school seniors in a recent poll said that unpopular opinions shouldn’t be allowed to be expressed.

    Freedom simply isn’t very popular with the masses.

    • That is truly frightening. But abolishing the second amendment just makes it easier to abolish the first. I really don’t get where these people are coming from. They better wake up before its too late.

      • All the handy work of the NEA brainwashing our kids and rewriting history. Our problems are a result of losing control of the education system. The fact that HS seniors think they want unpopular speech suppressed shows they have been taught to be intolerant of the “stupid” ideas of any differing points of views.

    • And I was told on this very website that they should re-institute the committee on unamerican activities and persecute Communists. So much for free speech, more like “free speech that agrees with me, a conservative hypocrite” 🙂

    • jwm,

      In fascist states like NY um yes since they follow the democratic tendency of rule by the whimsical mob vs. the republic concept of rule by law. BTW, I’m taking you up on your suggestion and looking into semi-autos for home defense. I’m intrigued with the CZ 712 Utility model (semi-auto shotgun) that comes with a 20″ barrel and adjustable choke tubes. MSRP $488.

      http://cz-usa.com/products/view/cz-712-utility/

      • That’s a reasonable price for a semi auto shotgun. I’m not familiar with that particular model but CZ puts out good stuff.

        What I’m looking into now is a coach gun. I know, Aharon, it’s only 2 shots. But I have repeaters. What I want now is something that’s dead nuts reliable and not ammo sensitive. Even black powder will work in a break action.

        In a true collapse of the system that goes long term it may be the best shotgun to have. I’m not 100% sold yet, but I’m very close.

        • What?! Your getting Biden’s suggestion for self defense?! The same could be accomplished with a good ‘ol Rem 870 or Mossy 500. With *evil* extended mags.

          Although, to be perfectly honest, I’d like a coach gun as well. Or even a Triple barrel, if it could function properly.

        • Accur81, puh-leeze, it’ll be a cold day in hell when I take a suggestion from Biden. But I have a number of break actions, all single shots to go with my pumps. I have always liked a double and the coach gun just looks American.

          As for that 3 barrel. I don’t care if it’s reliable or not. I’m not packing something that looks like it was used in a bugs bunny cartoon.

        • I haven’t found many ‘professional’ level reviews on the CZ though I did find this one:
          Semiautomatic Shotguns for Self-Defense: We Like ‘Utility’
          “With sound fundamental design, CZUSA’s $458 712 Utility outshoots Mossberg’s $700 feature-laden 930 Tactical in terms of handling, accuracy, and speed to target.”
          http://www.gun-tests.com/issues/21_9/features/Self-Defense-Semiatomatic-Shotguns5747-1.html

          I think Coach Guns are great and I’ve done quite a bit of reading up on them. They’re light, fast, and easily maneuverable. The Stoeger CG easily separates into three light weight carrying sections.

          If you are going to get the popular Stoeger Coach Gun (20″ barrels), I’d suggest the SxS with dual triggers since some of their SxS single trigger models and their O/U Condor Outback (20″ barrels) have been known to have failures to fire with the second barrel not firing.

          Another occasional problem is a soft-strike hit not setting off the ammo in the first or second barrel. A company makes steel pins for the Stoeger Coach Guns that are slightly longer if you have a problem with that issue. Lastly, a good cowboy action gunsmith at the CAS shows can smooth out the barrels and lighten up the springs if you choose.

          I’m not trying to paint a picture of a problem gun. They usually work and the CAS folks work their Coach Guns very hard. Sometimes they do need a bit of post factory care and tweaking.

        • Alright, jwm, just making sure you haven’t lost perspective!

          (I jest – you and Alpha are good guys).

          I would be remiss in saying that my Mosserg 930 SPX works great with everything from birdshot, Tac buckshot, and full power 1 3/8 oz. slugs.

  6. My mind didn’t go to Nazi Germany when I saw that picture; instead, I kind of expected to hear the Imperial March start playing. Call me a nerd.

  7. Well, when they poll 1500plus people on a liberal campus, of course you are going to come up with those kind of results. You can make statistics say anything. That being said, Since I am a gun owner, and unfortunately a NY’er…it’s time to pack bags and GTFO of NY.

    • I find it interesting that they all seemed very supportive of their Senate and other government leaders, yet roughly 50% think the current state of NYC is Fair and roughly 30% think the current state of NYC is Poor. That single question speaks volumes.

  8. “””One gets the representatives one deserves, it’s said. That sounds about right, in the case of the Empire State, which is aptly named”””

    WOW..

    Im a New Yorker. A hard worker just like you. I collect firearms..Why do we “deserve” any unconstitutional” gun law??? To those that bash the people of this state and have never been here, you need to get your facts straight. NY is the leading grower of corn in th US. The city is a small fraction of the rest of the green state composed of mostly farms and ag land. I now have a pile of illegal guns and mags thanks to this A HOLE law. Why do I deserve this? What a non sense comment

    • Easy, bro. My kid lives in mid state NY. I’ve lived in 914 country as well as 3 of the 5 boroughs. People just don’t understand the state as a whole. The Adirondacks are beyond gorgeous but they could well turn into Afghanistan if the people get pushed too far. I live in Pa, while somewhat better, we are over ruled by Philadelphia. They get 110% turn out, all for you know who, and no inquiries. I know what how you feel. Unfortunately, people believe what they want to believe. Lies speak louder, and more emotionally, than facts. If measured by the frantic, panicky, got to get it done yesterday run to disarm everybody you’d think we were sending kids to school in Fallujah.

    • If this will help, back in October my wife & I drove I-81 through Upstate on our way to Ottawa, first trip. It’s beautiful country with hills & valley and the early fall foliage and we look forward to coming through again. But New York is only one of several largely rural states dominated by the politics of one city. Pennsylvania & Illinois are among the others. Your governor IMO is a would-be dictator who gamed the legislative process to get his lousy gun grab bill rammed through. He’s so arrogant just like his daddy he doesn’t even realize there will be a boatload of Constitutional challenges even while he chants the law is the law is the law.

      I wish you well from here in South Carolina. We don’t have your kind of problems when it comes to gun rights.

    • Mr. Carpenter, I was born and raised in NYC and I think it blows. The government blows. The cost of everything blows. The people mostly blow. The crowds blow. The attitude blows.

      If you disagree, then I suggest that you don’t know New York.

  9. Oh, and by the way, Ray Kelly was on the front page of the NY Post less than a week ago saying that “Assault Weapons are not the problem in NYC, handguns are…” So, fellow NY’ers, what do you think is coming next??

      • What i was implying is this…Soon NYC will go after the handguns, now that the “Assault Weapons” are banned.

  10. I don’t believe they asked many people from western NY or upstate. The law does not affect the lives of any of the ruling class as we pay for their guards, guns and ammo. If I were privileged enough to live in a cocoon of safety comparable to Cumo’s or Bloomberg’s (paid for by the people they are victimizing), I would not be worried about my safety or the safety of my family. If the abolition of self defense is good for the serfs, it’s good for the public officials.

    • SAFE = Senseless And Facetious Enactment
      My Congresswoman (who voted against SAFE) gave me a personal response stating the feedback she got before and after was overwhelmingly against SAFE. Most other upstate representatives reported the same, some saying the percentage of those writing in support were in the single digits. The fact that Cuomo’s popularity dropped immediately after his dirty deal tells me that these “in favor of SAFE” polls are either flawed or fabricated.
      I’m moving to Nevada shortly anyway. It was in my longer term plans–now it’ll just come quicker. New York has been chasing away business and industry for years–now they’re pushing the residents out.
      Many feel Cuomo will run for pres in 2016. Any gun owner, or anyone else who values the Constitution should be aware of that now and start considering how to stop that fascist. Not that there will be much of the Constitution left when Obama gets through.

  11. PS Ive talked to many, the majority of us NY ers do NOT agree with the SAFE act of garbage. I speak for most when i say We are even more disappointed in the way it was brought forward and snuck through by the mole of a govenor.

  12. Handguns are already illegal in NYC so what are they going to do, make them more illegal? facts facts facts before comments…..

    • The politicians are going to make people’s hands illegal so they become even more dependent of government assistance.

  13. From Prof. Butler Shaffer (Jan 8, 2013):

    “It has been some 3-4 years since I last held my classic “election” on the first day of class in our law school. (The students – 2nd and 3rd year – don’t know who I am, and I hand out the ballots before doing or saying anything.) The candidates for office are Candidate A and Candidate B, each of whom is identified not by name, but by description of behavior and/or policies advocated. In the past, Candidate B receives – on the average – about 75% of the vote. Today – with 22 students voting – Candidate B received 20 votes [just under 91% of the vote] while Candidate A got 2 votes [just over 9%].

    Oh, yes, for those who haven’t followed this exercise before – of which I have reported herein in the past – Candidate A is a composite of such Revolutionary War heroes as George Washington, John Hancock, Sam Adams, Paul Revere, etc.. Candidate B is Adolf Hitler.”

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/130255.html

  14. In the next 4 years we will have two Americas, one whose citizens are armed and one where they aren’t.

    Anyone living in the Northeast get out now. First they will disarm you, after that they won’t let you leave the state without paying some huge exit tax and then you are a stone’s throw to being relocated against your will.

    • I’ll be safely in West Virginia and out of the People’s Republic of Maryland then, thanks for the heads up!

      Seriously though, that is what it’s going to come to.

  15. And in the 50’s a majority would’ve agreed to the keep the “coloreds” out of their restaurants, bars and schools. Guess the majority’s opinion makes things just, just ask Rosa Parks and MLK Jr.

  16. Lets go back to the thrilling days of yesteryear, to Selma Alabama in the 60’s. I’m taking a poll of white influxed citizens. Question, do you want racial segregation? Oh me, oh my what would the answer have been. // So now we have bigots trying to take away our rights by “numbers”? Take a flying F at a rolling donut, Randy

  17. ****Im a New Yorker. A hard worker just like you. I collect firearms..Why do we “deserve” any unconstitutional” gun law??? To those that bash the people of this state and have never been here, you need to get your facts straight. NY is the leading grower of corn in th US.****

    Not sure where you came up with NY being the leading producer of corn in the US. It’s barely in the top 15. Check out http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/nass/CropProd//2010s/2012/CropProd-10-11-2012.pdf Page 6.

  18. Gun control in places like NYS is a social norm , akin to Social Security and public education. Opposing gun control in a place like that is like saying you oppose public school;no matter that the facts back your stance, you’ll be standing alone just the same.

  19. Any connection with the fact that this was the first class of NYSP to graduate since 2009 and the state banning and criminalizing peoples weapons in New York?

  20. I notice that neither of these questions explain the new gun law, nor does there appear to be any attempt to gauge the respondents’ level of knowledge of the law, as well as the underlying facts. I’d like to see a survey of New Yorkers that asks things like “In your estimation, what percentage of handguns manufactured in the U.S.A. are routinely sold with factory magazines holding more than seven rounds?” or “In your estimation, what percentage of crimes in which a gun was used involve the discharge of more than seven rounds?”

  21. I just don’t agree with polls. 1,500 people are supposed to represent a population of 19,000,000? Even if you’re just talking “registered voters”, there are around 4,000,000 of those in NY state. Polls are B$.

    As for the northeast, I’m still saying our best plan is to get the decent folks out of there and petition Canada to annex everything from DC up. We can give southern Cali to Mexico to go with the guns we gave them. Problems solved.

  23. Did they happen to test those polled on how familiar they were with the Acts contents? I bet if they were exposed to the text of that Act and then re-polled , it would look a bit different.

  24. Its the same the Jews who lived in Germany support gun control in the early 30s only to fin out how evil gun control is too late in the 40s and we all know what happened there.

  25. Laughable.. I can guarantee you that they didn’t get anywhere near the responses they should have to have an accurate polling from places in the sticks where, quite frankly, they couldn’t give a rats ass about your damned poll.

  26. RF,

    Alum here–it’s Siena (only one n).

    And while I can certainly support your suspicions about a poll from a largely liberal campus, they do run a solid operation in the SRI. Codebook is always available, and they use industry standard RDD techniques (among others) to ensure scientific/statistical reliability in their studies.

  28. When gun owners leave the state, and leave all of the defenseless sheeple behind, and crime goes UP… they’ll just blame “loose gun laws” in other states and will stick to their guns, for lack of a less punny term, on the cause of the crime wave. Double down. MORE control is always the answer.

  29. I had a discussion with a friend on City states. In some areas like NYC, the city does hold a undue amount of sway on the rural part of the state. I talked to Assemblyman McLaughlin and he said out of the thousands of emails on the “NOT SO SAFE” (my words not his) act, he had two for it. In many ways it would be almost better to separate these cities from the rest of the state because they are so far removed from everyone else. There are many areas that would benefit from not having a large population center making laws that affect them, while the city has not effect. I keep thinking that the southern part of my home state and northern California might have had a good idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_(Pacific_state)

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