Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
From: [r--s] at [cbnewsc.cb.att.com] (Morris the Cat)
Subject: NRA press release on Harris firearms poll
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1993 18:16:59 GMT

Organization: Blue Moon BBS ((614) 868-998[0245])
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     For further information,
June 3, 1993              call:  Tom Wyld or Easter Thompson
                          NRA Public Affairs (202-828-6326)
 
               HARRIS POLL RIDDLED WITH FLAWS
      Due next week:  poll by Luntz-Weber will report 
   American opinion on genuine solutions to violent crime
 
Washington, D.C. -- Pollster Lou Harris should have read the 
Brady bill before asking Americans their opinions of the 
legislation, officials of the National Rifle Association 
said today.  Misrepresentation of legislation is one of many
flaws built into Harris' "study" of "gun control" attitudes.  

"Pollsters shouldn't keep people in a box," said James Jay 
Baker, Executive Director, NRA Institute for Legislative 
Action.  "If you let people respond only to questions about 
firearms, their responses will reflect bias in a one-sided 
line of questioning.  
 
"Let Americans express their opinions, and they quickly 
point to the root causes of violence in America -- namely 
disintegrating values and a catch-and-release criminal 
justice system -- and dismiss 'gun control' as ineffective."  
 
Luntz-Weber, pollster for Ross Perot during the 1992 
election, expects to complete a national poll on American 
attitudes toward violence and recommended solutions to 
crime, Baker said.  Luntz-Weber tentatively plans a press 
conference Thursday, June 10.  
 
"Preliminary results indicate that most Americans do not 
really know what the Brady bill is about," Baker said.  
"Evidently, Lou Harris numbers among them."
 
Baker noted that Luntz-Weber found that fewer than 10% of 
those polled suggest "gun control" as an effective response 
to violent crime.  The majority of Americans believe that 
violence is a deeply rooted cultural problem that can be 
attacked effectively by an overhaul of family values, 
criminal justice reform and youth intervention strategies 
such as conflict resolution training in schools.  
 
"Our conversation today with a reporter from USA Today is 
instructive," said Baker.  "We asked the reporter how Harris 
defined the Brady Bill.  'A 7-day waiting period,' she 
replied.  When we said it's not, she was silent.  'It's a 
5-day wait,' we explained, 'which sunsets to the NRA-backed 
Instant-Check.'  The bill also contains provisions to 
upgrade and automate criminal history records -- both 
trademark NRA reforms.
 
"'Which part of the bill did poll respondents say they 
preferred?' we asked.  
 
The reporter was silent.  
 
Since 1988, NRA has backed a positive, mandatory background 
check for gun buyers.  First implemented in Virginia, the 
NRA-backed check is on line in Delaware, Florida, Wisconsin 
and Illinois.  As states with background checks, certain 
permit-to-purchase schemes and waiting periods of 5 days or 
longer are exempted from the Brady bill's 5-day waiting 
period legislation currently under consideration, the Brady 
bill is already law for some two-thirds of the U.S. 
population.  
 
"If the Brady bill worked to reduce violent crime," Baker 
concluded, "it would have worked by now." 
 
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