Newsgroups: alt.politics.british,uk.politics,talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.guns
From: [h--s] at [unity.ncsu.edu] (HENRY E SCHAFFER)
Subject: How much more gun control? (Was Re: Part 1 of 3:  ...)
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 19:40:27 GMT

  A couple of months ago I did my own poll - and used a sample of my
colleagues and friends.  (I posted my questions and responses back then
and can't find my copy - so here's an approximation.)

Do you support passage of Federal and State laws forbidding firearms
dealers from selling handguns to people under 18 years of age?

Do you support passage of a Federal law forbidding people from buying
handguns in states with weaker gun control laws than their state of
residence?

Do you support passage of Federal and State laws forbidding students
from bringing handguns into their school buildings?

Do you support passage of Federal and State laws forbidding non-students
from bringing handguns into school buildings?

Do you support passage of a State law forbidding people from carrying
concealed handguns when the travel, shop, etc.?

Do you support passage of a Federal law forbidding inmates of penal and
mental institutions and convicted felons from purchasing and owning
handguns?

  Every one of the pollees answered Yes to all of the questions.

  What does this mean?

  In my mind, it means that most people in the US (and I'm making this
leap of faith, while admitting that it was a sample chosen non-randomly)
have no idea of the current state of gun control laws.  For every single
one of the laws proposed above already exists as Federal and/or North
Carolina (depending on which was mentioned).  For the most part the laws
are even more stringent than the suggested law in the question.

  Therefore "support for additional" doesn't necessarily mean that they 
want additional laws, it may mean they don't know what the laws are.

  While there may be a few people in the US who think that inmates of
penal and mental institutions should have the right to posess guns - I
think it is safe to say that there is overwhelming support for this
restriction - for this *gun control*.

  Therefore when people post here such dispassionate statements as "you
gun-nuts are against all gun control" or "there are no gun control laws
in the US" they are really very wrong.  I wonder if they know how wrong
they are (and are merely using this as flamebait) or, if they really are
so ignorant, how they can manage that.

  Similarly, I wonder whether the residents of the British Isles are any
better informed.  I read statements from a number of posters about how
all of them just love the current gun control regulations - but then
they have major disputes over what are the gun control regulations.
They also ignore any statements that not everyone is all that happey.

--henry schaffer