Monday, December 12, 2011

Does the NRA really represent its members?

This is by Republican pollster Frank Luntz. The results of his survey can be found here.

9 comments:

  1. A poll by MAIG? Really? HAHAHAHAHAHA!

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  2. A poll commissioned by MAIG--not by MAIG.

    Here's the problem, FWM. Polling outfits that generate bogus polls don't stay in business long. IOW, a polling firm's reputation and longevity is based on accuracy--not on giving a client what they want to hear.

    The fact Luntz happens to be the preferred pollster for the GOP for about the last 25 years suggests he has their confidence. After all, the GOP is going to making financial and strategic decisions about what his polling says. If he were to produce bogus polls saying everything is wonderful, it's doubtful he'd retain their business long.

    It's the same for any polling outfit.

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  3. His 99% vs. 1% is way off in my opinion, but the rest of it is just what we've been saying around here for a long time. Most gun owners and even most NRA members agree with US.

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  4. Big deal. Since when are rights subject to an opinion poll? Oh, yes, Dog Gone wants her rights to be determined by consensus. Perhaps we'll all decide to take away the vote from women. Or perhaps the consensus about gay marriage in many states is correct--that marriage is between a man and a woman only. By contrast, I believe that rights are natural, part of us from birth.

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  5. But, Greg,you make the claim that you speak for all Americans. You act as if every American likes seeing incidents like Virginia Tech.

    And like yourself, just shrug them off as inevitable.

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  6. I'm not sure what the NRA represents because I am not a member. I reviewed the survey and agreed with just about everything.

    There is one topic that is really hard to resolve and that is registration.

    I believe registration would be helpful for tracking stolen guns or sources of illegally distributed guns ... and maybe helpful if someone used a gun for a crime and left it at the crime scene.

    On the other hand, various governments (California, Germany, and I believe Canada, Australia, and England as well) have used registration databases to facilitate mass gun confiscations.

    If there were some simple way to guarantee that a gun registration database could never be used for a mass confiscation, I don't think any significant number of people would oppose it. The problem is, I haven't heard anyone come up with a way to guarantee the database won't be used as such.

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  7. Greg asks, "Big deal. Since when are rights subject to an opinion poll?"

    The big deal is you and your friends keep referring to the total number of gun owners in the country as if they all agreed with you. They don't.

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  8. Mikeb302000,

    You've seen the recent poll from Gallup about attitudes toward gun ownership? Those numbers are on our side. But I have little trust in polls.

    If you want to find out how a large number of gun owners would react, just get a candidate to announce support for your ideas. Such a candidate would go down in flames.

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  9. Once again Greg and I are on the same page.

    "But I have little trust in polls."

    Besides, it's not a popularity contest. I think we agree on that one too.

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