The Brady Campaigns of the world would have you pay no attention to the methodology behind their headline-grabbing pro-gun control polls. Close inspection invariably reveals that the survey was worded to generate the appropriate result. Or not. In many cases, they omit the methodology to hide their bias. Here’s an exception that proves the rule: The United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll on “solutions” to “mass shootings.” Hmmm. Do non-gun folk know what “limits on the size of ammunition clips” actually means? It sounds reasonable, but without subject knowledge or context . . . According to the National Journal’s interpretation of the results, blacks favor gun control more than whites . . .

Minorities embraced all of the ideas even more emphatically than whites, with the gap especially pronounced on initiatives topping the priority list for gun-control advocates. While whites split fairly closely on whether banning assault weapons could seriously reduce mass shootings (53 percent said yes, while 45 percent said no), minorities were unequivocal: 68 percent thought a ban would help, while only 29 percent disagreed.

Just 47 percent of whites, compared with 67 percent of nonwhites, thought that limiting the size of ammunition clips would help. (While half of whites thought such limits would not have much impact, only one-third of minorities agreed.) There was broader agreement on the value of “background checks for all legal gun transfers, including those between private individuals,” but minorities were particularly enthusiastic: Fully 84 percent of them said it would have an impact, while 72 percent of whites agreed.

This racial gap persisted, but only within single digits on approaches to gun violence mostly promoted by conservatives: minorities were slightly more likely than whites to consider it possible to reduce mass shootings through more mental-health services, tougher enforcement of existing gun laws, and more armed guards at schools and other public places.

Asked what would do the most to reduce mass shootings, a plurality of minorities picked background checks, followed by better mental health services, and then a tie between the assault-weapon ban and more armed guards. Whites ranked as their preferences more mental health services, background checks, more armed guards, and tougher enforcement of existing gun laws.

The poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from Sept. 19-22, interviewed 1,003 adults over landline and cell phones. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

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15 COMMENTS

  2. I think in black neighborhoods their experiences with gun violence have left their views somewhat broken. In a lot of low income black communities they have a lot of gun violence due to gangs, but these are people who never got their guns legally in many cases or are even allowed to own guns if you consider that the average age of a person in a gang is below 18 these days. Plus in a lot of places, calls to 911 in many of these neighborhoods either go unanswered or the response is so slow if a gun fight results in no causalities. I have a friend who was in Lemon City in Miami and saw a gang battle take place where sever kids took shots at another group and then everyone scattered in less than 10 seconds. He calls the cops about it and they never show up.

    The issue, as always, isn’t legal gun owners being a major issue, it’s illegal gun owners and the reasons they do what they do. Attacking guns is a weak and defective way to deal with the problem because they’ll just find another way and the police won’t show up to help unless there’s a body, either yours or someone elses.

    • That’s what I was thinking as well. When you have no police and no one can legally own or afford to own guns there are no good guys with guns. In that circumstance I think it’s perfectly logical to try to remove the tool that causes collateral damage. We know their motivations, we know their intentions, it isn’t a complex matter; gangs cause violence and death. The greater problem then becomes enforcing the laws; while it is logical to try to remove the tool (guns) it is illogical to expect there to be any way to do so. If the police won’t respond to shootings how are they supposed to enforce gun restrictions? It becomes a wish then, a hypothetical relying heavily on that “if”, and not a workable option.

      Is there any doubt whether or not it’s a workable option? Look at Chicago.

  3. Query whether black attitudes towards gun control are strongly influenced by the high rate of violent crime in their neighborhoods committed with guns, combined with an overwhelming sense of despair that nothing seems to work to reduce that violence. In this circumstance, doing everything to eliminate guns or restrict purchases may appear as the only seemingly sane choice.

  4. So how is one really supposed to draw any meaningful conclusions from a survey of 1000 respondants from an undisclosed geographic area? The answer is: one can’t. It’s just a prop used to advance an anti gun agenda, actually.

    • It’s only about 315,000 times removed from the mean. How many differences can 315,000 groups of people have?

    • You’re hot on the trail Pulatso. This, as much as if not more than the flawed methodology makes the results of this survey useless.

      Consider asking residents of Detroit how their city does on snow removal, then contrast that to how residents of Miami would respond. In the former there may be serious problems with snow and many people would report that something needs to be done. In the latter it would be unanimous that the city does an excellent job on snow removal. This survey would be unintelligible because of it’s missing context.

      Even the time during which the survey was conducted will influence it’s outcomes heavily. If you confine your calls to business hours on weekdays you’ll reach an overwhelming majority of retirees and the unemployed who may well have a different outlook on the topic than working people.

      The there is sample size, and this one is pathetically small. It’s hardly better than a ‘man on the street’ series of interviews. In fact, what this survey provides is a poor, fuzzy view of the possibly biased opinions of 0.0003% of the population who were willing to take the survey. Even assuming that everything reported about the survey is both honest and accurate, the survey it’s self is so fundamentally flawed as to render its data useless.

      Timeliness is obviously important in opinion surveys; however there have been so many recently that one wonders why more are being conducted. I submit that it has to do with the lefts control of the media and their infatuation with conformity. This plethora of surveys both gives a window into how their message is being received while simultaneously giving them something to report. Never mind that the results are fatally flawed in their accuracy, the more they report that ‘most’ people feel the way they want them to, the more the leftists believe people will start to feel that way. For the leftist it’s inconceivable that people don’t want to conform to everyone else’s opinion. It’s this as much as hyperbole that causes them to suggest those with opposing views are evil, insane, or both. From the collectivist PoV there really does have to be something wrong with you to go against the crowd, and your bravery and self reliance terrify them.

  5. This group of people largely votes democrat don’t they?
    Yes, so any news saying they support gun control shouldn’t shock anyone.

    Smitty

  7. This tells use that minorities are enemies of the Constitution. Time to get real about the danger that minorities, especially minority immigrants are to whites and our Constitution.

  9. Libtards (democrats) favor increased power by the state. Blacks vote over 90% democrat. Democrats have been molding blacks into the victim/welfare/entitlement position that they need for votes (power).
    Useful idiots. Culture of death. The state IS their new mother and father (family).

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