Brits and handguns.

[Ranb]

I saw this link on another forum; http://www.gunssavelife.com/?p=7699

The royal subjects are, as we mentioned earlier, keen to end the prohibition on handgun ownership. Asked about some key issues facing Great Britain, the poll below shows an overwhelming majority want to be able to possess handguns once again.

Is there any truth to this article at all? Thanks.

Ranb

 

[DDWW]

If true, good for them.

 

[lionking]

A survey on a pro-gun website?

Yeah, sure. It will not happen because Brits are sensible

 

[Puppycow]

It's an on-line poll, which is not considered scientific or representative.

I'll see if I can find a scientific poll on the question.

 

[angrysoba]

I saw this link on another forum; http://www.gunssavelife.com/?p=7699


Is there any truth to this article at all? Thanks.

Ranb

That hardly looks like a reliable poll.

From what I can see people were asked on the Internet what bill they would like to repeal. There was no option to disagree with the opinion that the law should be repealed.

No poll was conducted in which people were asked what their opinion on gun ownership and gun laws were.

Polls like this can easily be manipulated by websites with particular agendas. I seem to recall that PZ Myers used to encourage his readers to go and vote on polls on evangelical sites asking about the age of the Earth. If any gun forums like the ones you are on ask their readers to go to the Telegraph site and bombard the site with votes for a particular issue then often those readers will do that.

 

[Ranb]

I understand how certain polls are unreliable (does anyone really believe that Americans supported the latest background check bill because 90% of 1700 people polled wanted more background checks?). For the British people on this forum, do any of you really want to own handguns? Anyone here ever hunt with a handgun?

Ranb

 

[angrysoba]

It didn't take long to rumble this bit of shameless propagandizing:

Greetings from across the pond.

I would just like to say That over the past few months there has been a ever increasing sign within the UK that shows the people seem to be waking up and wanting their guns back. As you may know handguns here were banned in 1997 and since that time the crime levels have risen most recently the London beheading in the street.

Media coverage is scarce regarding guns and gun rights but at the moment there is a poll on the telegraph website about what bills people would like to see in parliament, currently the bill to repeal the handgun ban is winning. I am here to ask any fellow gun lovers to please help your cousins out from across the pond and take a moment of your time to vote for the repeal of the handgun ban.

The poll is only a day old but has already seen a good number backing the bill and we urgently need to show the UK MP's that this bill needs attention.

The link to the poll is here:

Telegraph new law competition: vote now - Telegraph

thank you for your time.

http://www.shootersforum.com/general-discussion/84897-please-vote-brits-get-their-guns-back.html

If you type this into a search engine:

telegraph poll on repealing the ban on hand guns

You will find that in the past three or four days this has been circulated around plenty of gun forums, survivalist forums and neo-nazi sites (the top result is Stormfront from a few days ago).

So, Ranb, did you actually think that this was real evidence for a change of opinion about guns in the UK or were you fully aware of this campaign and are playing dumb?

 

[Ranb]

You will find that in the past three or four days this has been circulated around plenty of gun forums, survivalist forums and neo-nazi sites (the top result is Stormfront from a few days ago).

So, Ranb, did you actually think that this was real evidence for a change of opinion about guns in the UK or were you fully aware of this campaign and are playing dumb?

I did not bother to investigate the poll. I merely used it to open a up conversation on handgun ownership in Britain. I did not actually know if there was any change of opinion and I don't really care that much. I just thought I would ask for opinions here.

But if you are going to twist this into an opportunity to ask if I'm dumb, then never mind.

Ranb

 

[angrysoba]

I did not bother to investigate the poll. I merely used it to open a up conversation on handgun ownership in Britain. I did not actually know if there was any change of opinion and I don't really care that much. I just thought I would ask for opinions here.

But if you are going to twist this into an opportunity to ask if I'm dumb, then never mind.

Ranb

Well, okay. Here's my take:

The poll is absolutely meaningless.

There is almost no enthusiasm for gun ownership in the UK.

 

[Puppycow]

Well, my Google-fu has failed to find anything more recent than 2005 for scientific public opinion polls on gun control in the UK. It seems that public opinion in the UK is so strongly in favor of strict gun control, that polling organizations rarely even bother to ask the public about it anymore.

Here's what was found in 2005:

Britons Aim for Tougher Gun Laws

June 21, 2005
Britons Aim for Tougher Gun Laws
Americans, Canadians not as quick on the trigger
by Shelley Mika, Senior Staff Writer

Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." When it comes to gun laws, some argue vehemently as to whether stricter laws are, in fact, "a good thing." But in Great Britain, which has some of the most stringent gun laws in the world, citizens are ready for more.

According to recent multinational Gallup polling* in the United States, Britain, and Canada, roughly 8 in 10 British adults (79%) feel gun laws should be stricter. This percentage is significantly lower in both Canada and the United States, where 59% and 52%, respectively, want tougher laws. Canadians and Americans are also more likely than Britons to desire "less strict" gun laws: 18% of Canadians and 12% of Americans, compared with 5% of Britons.

A mere 5% of Britons think that their gun control laws should be less strict than they are at present.


By the way, the Telegraph poll is an Internet poll meaning that anyone in the world with an Internet connection can vote in it. So many of the respondents may not even be Britons.

 

[lionking]

A mere 5% of Britons think that their gun control laws should be less strict than they are at present.

That would have been my guess. I'm certain the same opinion is shared in Australia. As I thought, Brits are simply too sensible to ease gun laws.

 

[geni]

For the British people on this forum, do any of you really want to own handguns?

No I have a standing objection to any weapon that requires that you be within visual range of your target.

Anyone here ever hunt with a handgun?

Have you ever tried looking at the UK on a map? Note that its not very big. Hunting with guns is pretty much limited to a few bits of moorland and you are mostly looking at things like grouse and deer. Handguns doesn't generaly include shotguns.

 

[geni]

I saw this link on another forum; http://www.gunssavelife.com/?p=7699


Is there any truth to this article at all? Thanks.

Ranb

The thing that should have been the hint is the suggestion that guns were in any way common in the past. Britain has never had much of a tradition of widespread gun ownership. Farmers, poachers and upper class twits with their shotguns. A few pistols and rifles owned by a small number of hobbyists. Various types of weaponry held by the groups in NI. Even before Dunblane gun-ownership wasn't widespread.

 

[Ranb]

No I have a standing objection to any weapon that requires that you be within visual range of your target.

So mortars and cruise missiles are more your type then?

Ranb

 

[Liam]

For the British people on this forum, do any of you really want to own handguns? Anyone here ever hunt with a handgun?

Ranb

I would own one, I quite enjoyed going to the firing range when I was in the USA.

 

[lionking]

I would own one, I quite enjoyed going to the firing range when I was in the USA.

That's good. Would you keep the handgun locked up at the firing range? That would be quite sensible.

 

[Rat]

I would like to be allowed to own a gun, mostly because I am childish and reckless. I would not like the general population to be allowed to own guns. I don't think I know anyone who feels, or at least feels strongly, that the law should be relaxed on handguns.

 

[The Don]

I would like to be able to own a handgun because I believe that an enormous shiny hand gun would signal that I can protect those near to me and make me more attractive to women offsetting my lack of physical attractiveness and poor social skills.

Also because it would be fun to shoot at things. A few days ago I had to go up a ladder to cut down a damaged tree branch it would have been more convenient, more fun and far safer if I could have just blasted at it from ground level with a high calibre hand gun.

 

[brodski]

It didn't take long to rumble this bit of shameless propagandizing:



http://www.shootersforum.com/general-discussion/84897-please-vote-brits-get-their-guns-back.html

If you type this into a search engine:




You will find that in the past three or four days this has been circulated around plenty of gun forums, survivalist forums and neo-nazi sites (the top result is Stormfront from a few days ago).

So, Ranb, did you actually think that this was real evidence for a change of opinion about guns in the UK or were you fully aware of this campaign and are playing dumb?

Violent crime is down massively since the 1997 gun ban (the peak was in 1995) I don't think that this drop in violent crime had anything much to do with the gun ban, but it certainly gives the lie to the idea that the gun ban caused a rise in violent crime.

 

[brodski]

A few days ago I had to go up a ladder to cut down a damaged tree branch it would have been more convenient, more fun and far safer if I could have just blasted at it from ground level with a high calibre hand gun.

there is nothing stopping you from owning a high caliber hand gun, provided that it's a black powder weapon.