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ORIGINAL: Kirata


Survey of 15,000 Law Enforcement Professionals about U.S. Gun Control Policies

The survey, which was conducted in early March 2013, received 15,000 responses from law enforcement professionals... Response percentages varied only slightly when analyzed by rank and department size. Among the results:

• 86 percent feel the currently proposed legislation would have no effect or a negative effect on improving officer safety

• Similarly, 92 percent feel that banning semi-automatic firearms, or “assault weapons,” would have no effect or a negative effect on reducing violent crime

• Demonstrating the opinion that the best way to combat gun crime is through harsher punishment, 91 percent said the use of a firearm while perpetrating a crime should lead to a stiff, mandatory sentence with no plea bargains. Likewise, 59 percent believe increasing punishment severity for unlicensed dealers would reduce crime

• 71 percent support law enforcement leaders who have publicly refused to enforce more restrictive gun laws within their jurisdictions

• 91 percent support the concealed carry of firearms by civilians who have not been convicted of a felony and/or have not been deemed psychologically incapable

• Likewise, 80 percent feel that legally-armed citizens would likely have reduced the number of casualties in recent mass shooting incidents

I think the results of this survey and the experience of the officers of all ranks who participated deserve serious consideration, both by those whose minds are not yet made up, and especially by those who ridicule these views and insult anyone who holds them.

K.

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ORIGINAL: Lucylastic

I wonder why all 400,000 of them didnt respond?

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ORIGINAL: JeffBC

I'm of mixed opinion about this.

On one hand I completely agree that with the status-quo these are the professionals and their opinions matter. So in the short-term I completely accept this view.

On the other hand, in the long-term I have no interest in an increasingly lawless society.

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ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam
Why would you say we have an increasingly lawless society?

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ORIGINAL: JeffBC

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ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam
Why would you say we have an increasingly lawless society?

We have a society that no longer values things like "honor". "Winning" is the last word on pretty much everything. Our own leaders make a mockery of "playing by the rules" on a daily basis. The bankers, our noble class, simply decline to be prosecuted. I personally believe that a lot of people look at that and quite correctly conclude that the way to get ahead is to cheat.

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ORIGINAL: JeffBC

It is, of course, nothing new. I see it as cyclical. All that's going on now is we're in the final stages of that. The elite, who have been cheating all along, have allowed it to become obvious that they are cheating scoundrels. It's the terminal part of the cycle. Because it's become obvious that the way to become "elite" is to cheat... well.... people aren't stupid.

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ORIGINAL: Powergamz1

But doesn't the IACP say *they* are telling the truth?

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Even in our smaller cities, there's almost inevitably a "part of town" that people avoid if they can. The determinants of violent crime are socioeconomic and cultural. But it's the cultural factor that determines how people will respond to socioeconomic inequalities, and the violent sub-cultures that exist in these communities must own the results. Personally, I don't know how to help them. Money hasn't worked. And New York City's gun laws are easily among the most restrictive in the country.