Do you think we're in the majority?

[SC4006]

Some of you probably know about the shooting that happened on live TV today; most of you will know before long. With YouTube videos of it plastered everywhere, and due to my curiosity, I clicked on one. My thoughts are with the families of the innocent lives that were taken.

The focus of this post is not about the video itself though. I made the mistake of looking through the comments for the video. It seems the vast majority of the comments I saw for the particular video I watched were anti gun comments. It's not just this video either, just about any YouTube video depicting guns being used in a violent fashion has anti gun comments. Most are along the lines of calling America the "Wild West", calling our gun laws "antiquated", and calling this country a backwards, savage place.

Now I realize some of these comments could be from people of foreign countries, but I'm sure a lot are from people living in this country. Either way though, it angers me to see comments like that.

I also know using YouTube comments for any sort of study would hardly lead to anything conclusive, but it just seems that for every pro gun comment I see, there are maybe five anti gun ones.

What do you folks think, who makes up the majority? Anti gunners or pro gunners?

(No need to get into political correctness with this one. I use the terms anti gunner and pro gunner somewhat loosely. I just want to see people's opinions and start a conversation.)

 

[Catalyst]

I think its skewed based on the content of the video being commented on. A brutal senseless shooting crime will have fewer comments by pro-gun arguments since that particular circumstance makes it tough to defend the position. Turn the tables though, and read comments on a video about a homeowner successfully defending their family against an aggressor with a long and violent criminal background and it's all "atta-boys".

 

[FITASC]

While there may be a lot of folks who own a gun or three, most would not id themselves either way. Someone who owns a handgun in a sock drawer for protection or his granddad's shotgun for doves - and that's all they do - is not as concerned or involved about this issue. They are focusing on their job, house payment, medical bills etc. and those issues will dominate the next election anyway. That said, I think we are in the minority since most of the media is biased against us; and there's that old adage about telling a lie often enough and it becomes truth - and they WILL tell that lie over and over.

 

[745SW]

This is the first time I saw what I believe to be a freeze frame of the video on npr.org. The pistol appears to be a Glock.

I normally don't read the comments and have yet to read the articles because I just downloaded the HTML and the various components.

Overall appears to be counter productive us.

 

[BumbleBug]

As much as I hate to say it, I can see gun control coming. In the gun debate, logic, history & facts don't seem to matter any more. People are angry at the object & not the action & are desperate to have something done whether it will work or not. Social engineering via our federal government & mainstream media is hard at work & they will eventually win.

 

[A pause for the COZ]

There are the pro gunners and the Anti gun groups.
I would suspect the numbers are about equal.

Its the Unwashed masses we need to worry about. They flitter one way then the next based solely on public opinion.
Its the group Bloomberg spends billions to effect. Its the ones who eventually will vote away (Gleefully) all of our freedoms.

Its my one main complaint about pro gun groups. They spend 90% of their time selling to the sold not near enough educating the masses.

I do agree the NRA and such do a good job with the court fights. Seems to be a never ending Gobstopper for the Lawyer class.
But if we put as much effort into education, we may not need to be in court so much.
Its the Ballot box that will take down the 2nd.

 

[Tom Servo]

If you define "we" as people who are concerned, aware, and active on 2nd Amendment issues, we are most definitely in the minority.

Owning a gun no more makes one an activist than owning a ukulele makes one Tiny Tim. The average gun owner is the average person for the most part. He doesn't follow politics or history to know he's being lied to. He doesn't question the "I'm a gun owner, but..." rhetoric he hears on the evening news. Our opponents capitalize on tragedy, and they know exactly how to work him.

That's why it's up to "we" to shoulder more of the burden.

 

[bigfische]

This latest shooting has the unfortunate feel of a turning point in the public opinion on gun ownership. Like Vietnam was the first war brought into our living rooms basically live, this was the first shooting that was both live and uploaded via social media after being recorded by the shooter.

Like it or not, it was powerful imagery.

 

[SC4006]

If you define "we" as people who are concerned, aware, and active on 2nd Amendment issues, we are most definitely in the minority.

Yeah, for the most part I'd consider that a true pro gunner in my opinion. I agree that there are definitely a lot of types of gun owners.

Its my one main complaint about pro gun groups. They spend 90% of their time selling to the sold not near enough educating the masses.

I definitely agree with that, but with the current mainstream media bias it doesn't make it too easy for any pro gun group to educate the masses.

 

[FITASC]

We start in the schools just like the Socialists did and continue to do. Many schools now have competition trap teams earning varsity letters; that's a start. Trying to get more of the Eddie Eagle and similar into the younger age kids' schools will be a challenge - especially in urban areas, but I suspect this country will have bigger issues before they are old enough to vote.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

What do you folks think, who makes up the majority? Anti gunners or pro gunners?

In reality, the perception is probably greatly affected by where in the USA you live. Based on where I live, I would say there's no question: anti-gunners predominate by a wide majority.

 

[rickyrick]

Probably as a whole there are more anti-gunners. Most think that it's the right thing to do.

There's plenty of anti-gun, anti-2nd gun owners out there.

There's plenty of pro-gun gun owners that are oblivious to the goings-on in the country.

There's more than a fair share of pro-gun gun owners that think they have the ultimate protection of the 2nd.

There's lots of pro-2nd types that will forget other's non-gun related rights.

Plenty of people that doubt politicians will really try to take guns.

Many pro-gun people will support "common sense steps" toward gun control


So yes, "we" are in the minority

 

[dakota.potts]

And in semi-rural South Carolina, the majority of people are pro-gun. Even a lot of the anti-gun people here are pro hunting/target gun.

With the exception of California, New York, New Jersey etc. I'd guess that people are more pro-gun by a notable but not significant percentage. By far the largest group in my opinion is the "reasonable" middle ground who doesn't want all guns banned but want "common sense" measures.

 

[bbqbob51]

It has been my experience that the majority could really care less one way or another when it comes to firearms. The truly passionate on each side are a small percentage. Most people aren't coming for our guns, they just don't care.
Most aren't anywhere near as excited about guns and shooting activities as the folks on this forum, it doesn't mean they are anti-gun.
I live in a rural area and a lot of people where I work hunt but are not as passionate about firearms as I am. Some hunters I know only own one or two guns where I own 15 but don't hunt. I have firearms for target practice, self defense and nuisance animals.
A guy that works for me is an avid hunter and does own a number of firearms but when it comes to ammo he is amazed how much I shoot and how much ammo I own. He was shocked when I told him I have over 10,000 rounds of ammo in storage. He told me he only has a few 20 round boxes of his favorite hunting round, a box or less each of less favorite rifle ammo, a box of .38spl and a brick of .22lr. I also imagine a lot of you here think that my shooting of 300 rounds in a session is a paltry amount.
The bottom line is there is a lot of grey area when it comes to this subject. A few are rabid anti gun and a few are gun nuts. Most fall somewhere in between.

 

[Tom Servo]

Many pro-gun people will support "common sense steps" toward gun control

This is the core of it. We're getting hammered on every side.

Mr. Smith owns a couple of guns. He likes to shoot a couple weekends a year. The media makes a big deal about mass shootings and oh won't someone think of the children? All they want is some "common sense" regulation. After all, nobody's coming for his guns. He doesn't want to be like those heartless NRA extremists, does he?

Sooner or later, Mr. Smith caves to the pressure. Even if he doesn't support it, he doesn't really oppose it, either.

 

[jmr40]

In this country there are roughly 10-15% that are strongly pro-gun. We have about equal numbers who are strongly anti-gun. The other 70-80% don't have strong feelings either way. They poll numbers swing back and forth according to the news storys of the day.

For the most part more people are in favor of gun ownership and fewer regulations. At least at this time we are winning the battle. Even after high profile shootings in many places the poll numbers still show well over 50% are currently in favor or fewer gun laws and making carry easier.

When things like this happen you are going to get mostly anti-gun comments. even though most people don't really support more gun control it looks bad to press the issue in times like this.

There is a huge difference between scientific polls, and a snapshot of opinion. Go into a bar on Saturday night and a Baptist church on Sunday morning and conduct the same exact poll on legalizing alcohol sales and you'll get very different answers

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

From my read of legit surveys (not politically motivated) -

1. A majority (but not massive) believe in the right to own a gun for SD.

2. A strong majority favor 'reasonable restrictions' that keep guns from criminals, like UBCs, mental health checks and the like.

3. A significant proportion don't see the need for the military derivative guns or high capacity handguns. SD can be handled with a shotugn and an SW Model 10.

# 2 and 3 will lead to restrictions, checks and bans as we see in states now. Heller and McDonald will not prevent such. Scalia is used to justify those. Gun world rhetoric - you only need 3 to 5 shots and a shotgun is the best - is also used to justify such.

A horrible incident can generate what is known as a moral panic and push through such laws or regulations.

These are more likely to occur in states where urban areas can dominate the legislatures.

The gun world doesn't help itself with stunts like take your 'crew' and ARs to Chipolte or Starbucks.

 

[SARuger]

My sleepy little town is shaken to its core right now.....

Roanoke is a small city, or a big town, whichever way you look at it. If you don't know someone, you know someone that knows that someone.

Most here are gun owners, hunters, fisherman. Kayaking and hiking are big. I hope the world knows that this is a normally very safe place. We do have our troubled people just like any where else.

Adam Wards dad was my Jr high school PE teacher back in 1979-1980. I work in Salem VA where Adam was from.

What I hate the most is all of the politicians that use incidents like these to preach their agenda

 

[Dragline45]

This incident is a prime example of guns not being the problem, but mental health. The guy was tapped, he knew he was going nuts and even posted a message publicly saying "I've been a human powder keg for a while....just waiting to go BOOM." Gun control will always be a hot topic, but in todays climate, with more and more people fed up with the government and government control, and a huge surge in new gun owners this past decade, I don't think they will ever get away with another all out AWB unless they want full scale rioting on their hands. I do anticipate to see more states requiring background checks though, especially since every major shooting in the past few years have been linked to people with clear mental health issues.

My sleepy little town is shaken to its core right now.....

Roanoke is a small city, or a big town, whichever way you look at it. If you don't know someone, you know someone that knows that someone.

Most here are gun owners, hunters, fisherman. Kayaking and hiking are big. I hope the world knows that this is a normally very safe place. We do have our troubled people just like any where else.

It always hits too close to home when these things happen so close. The Tsarnaev brothers shot it out with police and detonated IED's just a block or two away from my house after the Boston Marathon bombings.

 

[JohnKSa]

Its my one main complaint about pro gun groups. They spend 90% of their time selling to the sold not near enough educating the masses.

If only that were the biggest problem.

The biggest problem is that we overestimate our ability to communicate effectively with the people who don't identify as either pro-or anti-. Instead we sometimes engage in tactics and rhetoric that come across as nutty or extremist to those in the middle.