After a thorough discrediting of John Lott, which we're all familiar with, an interesting survey is cited. The gun nuts, following Lott's lead always start out with the lying proposition that cops generally favor gun rights, but when confronted with facts, they fall back on the equally dishonest explanation that police chiefs don't count because their more like politicians. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Police chiefs generally come up through the ranks and are therefore eminently qualified to render opinions which should be taken seriously. Here they are:
The 2006 mail survey, which appeared in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, was conducted by actual academics who put measures in place to ensure the internal validity of their survey. Among the findings:
- 93.5% of police chiefs supported requiring a background check to purchase a handgun.
- 73.4% of police chiefs were in favor of child access laws.
- 69.4% of police chiefs supported mandatory handgun registration.
- 58.4% of police chiefs believed civilians should not carry firearms in public places.
