by NW Spotlight
Last month, in March 2013, PoliceOne surveyed more than 15,000 active and retired members of law enforcement about gun control. PoliceOne [2] is the leading law enforcement website in the country, and PoliceOne confirms the law enforcement status of all members.
Here is a summary of their findings of what police officers think about gun control:
- Majority (61%) don’t believe White House’s currently proposed legislation would improve police officer safety – an additional 25% think it would make police officers LESS safe
- Majority (71%) think an “assault weapon” ban would have NO EFFECT on reducing violent crime – an additional 21% think it would actually increase violent crime
- Majority (96%) don’t think ban on “high capacity” magazines (more than 10 rounds) would reduce violent crime
- Majority (82%) think gun buybacks or turn-in programs are NOT effective in reducing gun violence
What WOULD help? What WOULD work?
- Majority (59%) think increasing severity of punishment for gun trafficking would reduce gun crime
- Majority (91%) support mandatory sentences for crimes committed using a firearm
- Majority think legally-armed citizens are important to reducing crime – 55% think legally armed citizens are MOST important to reducing crime (on a scale of 1-5)
- Majority (91%) support concealed carry for civilians who aren’t felons or psychologically incapable
- Best way to prevent large scale public shootings is more permissive concealed carry policies for civilians (29% rating – top rating of 8 options)
- Majority (86%) think a legally-armed citizen could have reduced casualties or avoided casualties altogether at tragedies like Newtown or Aurora
- Majority (81%) support arming teachers and/or school administrators who volunteer, as long as they are vetted and trained
To see the complete survey, please click here [3]. To read the April 8, 2013 PoliceOne press release on the survey, please click here [4].