Lots of the usual anti-gun b/s from the Post. They also have a poll to compare against ABC's. We're not doing well at this time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63008-2000May13.html
Poll Finds Firearm Threats Common
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 14, 2000; Page A01
Nearly one in four Americans say they have personally been threatened with a gun, including about one in 10 adults who report that someone had taken a shot at them, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News national survey.
Nearly half of all Americans--45 percent--said a firearm is kept in their home.
As the anti-gun forces prepared to rally on the Mall today under the banner of the Million Mom March and advocates of gun ownership said they also would demonstrate, reaction to the poll's findings was divided down predictable lines.
A spokesman for Virginians Against Handgun Violence said he was startled by the number of people who claimed to have stared down the barrel of a gun.
"The more guns that are out there, the more propensity we will have for that kind of situation," said Michael Rau, of the anti-gun group. "I think it's clear that the American public is at great risk."
The National Rifle Association's spokesman focused on the fact that 45 percent of Americans have a gun in their home.
"I think it shows that, when you get outside of Washington, D.C., New York City or L.A. and get into real America, gun ownership--sports shooting, hunting and citizens wanting to own a firearm for protection--is about as mainstream as one can get in America," said Bill Powers, director of public affairs for the NRA.
Khalid Pitts, director of state legislation for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said he found the gun ownership number "particularly disturbing" because he believes "a surprising number" of those guns, including those in homes with children, are kept unlocked and loaded.
"Given the number of times guns are used for suicides, or used against someone you know, having a firearm readily available is a problem," Pitts said. "They're too easily accessible."
Powers said he was not surprised by another of the poll's findings: One in four people polled feel endangered by gun violence near home or on the job.
"Consider the sensational, made-for-TV-drama way that the news media has covered some of the events over the last couple of years," Powers said. "Americans are getting around-the-clock, in-your-living-room sensationalized coverage. That sensationalism is certainly going to cause alarm."
Powers said he could not verify the poll's finding about the number of Americans who said they had been threatened with a gun.
"Without having time to look at the poll and see how the questions were asked, I would not be able to comment on that," Powers said.
To estimate experiences with guns and gun violence, The Post and ABC News asked a random sample of 1,068 adults 18 or older this month if, "not counting military service," they had ever personally "been threatened with a gun or shot at." Then respondents were asked whether they had been fired on or just threatened. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Nine percent of those interviewed reported that they had been shot at. The total includes everyone from crime victims to those involved in hunting accidents. An additional 14 percent reported that someone had threatened them with a gun but did not pull the trigger.
The overall estimates are roughly consistent with the results of earlier surveys. In 1996, the General Social Survey, conducted annually by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, estimated that 20 percent of all adults had been shot at or threatened with a gun. That survey did not specifically ask respondents whether they had been shot at.
The Post-ABC survey found that men were more than twice as likely as women to say they have had a threatening encounter with guns. Blacks also were disproportionately more likely than whites to say they have been shot at or threatened with a gun.
A large majority of gun-owning respondents with children living at home had spoken to their children about the hazards of handling guns, though about one in six--17 percent--said the subject hadn't come up yet.
The poll found that people who had been shot at or threatened were slightly less likely to favor stricter gun laws than those who haven't been exposed to gun violence.
That's also what Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey, found when he analyzed his survey data. But he cautions that "part of this is simply gender. It's a combination of gender and [being a] gun owner. Gun owners and men [who are generally more pro-gun] are more likely to have these threatening experiences than women."
Two in three poll respondents said gun laws should be strengthened.
In subsequent interviews with a Post reporter, several people who experienced circumstances in which they said they felt threatened by guns told their stories in detail.
"I inspect fire extinguishers for a living," said Davey Brown, 45, of Pasadena, Md. "One time I went to a bank and the guard let me in; he was a rent-a-cop. I reached for my wallet, and he pulled a gun on me."
Sandra Bruce, 53, of Sunny Isles, Fla., said that when she lived in a middle-class neighborhood in New Jersey, her 15-year-old son invited her into his bedroom. "One of his friends had a .357 magnum," she recalled. "I told them they had to leave."
Then she went to see the juvenile officer in town. "His answer was he knew about it. 'They need it for protection when they go to Newark to buy drugs,' " Bruce said she was told. "It just blew my mind."
David Whitehorn said he remembers the knock at the door six years ago. He said it was his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend--with a gun in his hand. "He basically ran through the alley and started shooting at me," said the 27-year-old account manager now living in Petersburg, Va.
Dianna Hollowell, of Galesburg, Ill., said her abusive ex-husband pointed a gun at her and pulled the trigger. "It wasn't loaded, but I didn't know that at the time," said the 53-year-old former mental health technician. "He always kept his guns right in our bedroom, so I knew if I didn't do what he wanted, they were right there."
Kenneth Felser, a 20-year-old college student who lives in Bellport, N.Y., said that four youths once surrounded his car. "One kid put a gun to my head and said, 'Get out of the car.' I thought I'd just take my chances, so I took off."
Other encounters were more benign.
"My father-in-law shot at me, but he didn't know I was there," said Rosemary Irwin, 73, of Van Nuys, Calif. "We were out hunting rabbits, and he accidentally shot toward me, instead of what he thought was a rabbit. It came a little bit too close."
Then again, "I almost shot him once," Irwin said. She heard someone rustling outside a window one night, unaware that it was her father-in-law, who had locked himself out of the house. "I went and got the shotgun and stood with it cocked. And if he hadn't of sworn like he usually did, I would have shot him."
Staff writer Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63008-2000May13.html
Poll Finds Firearm Threats Common
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 14, 2000; Page A01
Nearly one in four Americans say they have personally been threatened with a gun, including about one in 10 adults who report that someone had taken a shot at them, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News national survey.
Nearly half of all Americans--45 percent--said a firearm is kept in their home.
As the anti-gun forces prepared to rally on the Mall today under the banner of the Million Mom March and advocates of gun ownership said they also would demonstrate, reaction to the poll's findings was divided down predictable lines.
A spokesman for Virginians Against Handgun Violence said he was startled by the number of people who claimed to have stared down the barrel of a gun.
"The more guns that are out there, the more propensity we will have for that kind of situation," said Michael Rau, of the anti-gun group. "I think it's clear that the American public is at great risk."
The National Rifle Association's spokesman focused on the fact that 45 percent of Americans have a gun in their home.
"I think it shows that, when you get outside of Washington, D.C., New York City or L.A. and get into real America, gun ownership--sports shooting, hunting and citizens wanting to own a firearm for protection--is about as mainstream as one can get in America," said Bill Powers, director of public affairs for the NRA.
Khalid Pitts, director of state legislation for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said he found the gun ownership number "particularly disturbing" because he believes "a surprising number" of those guns, including those in homes with children, are kept unlocked and loaded.
"Given the number of times guns are used for suicides, or used against someone you know, having a firearm readily available is a problem," Pitts said. "They're too easily accessible."
Powers said he was not surprised by another of the poll's findings: One in four people polled feel endangered by gun violence near home or on the job.
"Consider the sensational, made-for-TV-drama way that the news media has covered some of the events over the last couple of years," Powers said. "Americans are getting around-the-clock, in-your-living-room sensationalized coverage. That sensationalism is certainly going to cause alarm."
Powers said he could not verify the poll's finding about the number of Americans who said they had been threatened with a gun.
"Without having time to look at the poll and see how the questions were asked, I would not be able to comment on that," Powers said.
To estimate experiences with guns and gun violence, The Post and ABC News asked a random sample of 1,068 adults 18 or older this month if, "not counting military service," they had ever personally "been threatened with a gun or shot at." Then respondents were asked whether they had been fired on or just threatened. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Nine percent of those interviewed reported that they had been shot at. The total includes everyone from crime victims to those involved in hunting accidents. An additional 14 percent reported that someone had threatened them with a gun but did not pull the trigger.
The overall estimates are roughly consistent with the results of earlier surveys. In 1996, the General Social Survey, conducted annually by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, estimated that 20 percent of all adults had been shot at or threatened with a gun. That survey did not specifically ask respondents whether they had been shot at.
The Post-ABC survey found that men were more than twice as likely as women to say they have had a threatening encounter with guns. Blacks also were disproportionately more likely than whites to say they have been shot at or threatened with a gun.
A large majority of gun-owning respondents with children living at home had spoken to their children about the hazards of handling guns, though about one in six--17 percent--said the subject hadn't come up yet.
The poll found that people who had been shot at or threatened were slightly less likely to favor stricter gun laws than those who haven't been exposed to gun violence.
That's also what Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey, found when he analyzed his survey data. But he cautions that "part of this is simply gender. It's a combination of gender and [being a] gun owner. Gun owners and men [who are generally more pro-gun] are more likely to have these threatening experiences than women."
Two in three poll respondents said gun laws should be strengthened.
In subsequent interviews with a Post reporter, several people who experienced circumstances in which they said they felt threatened by guns told their stories in detail.
"I inspect fire extinguishers for a living," said Davey Brown, 45, of Pasadena, Md. "One time I went to a bank and the guard let me in; he was a rent-a-cop. I reached for my wallet, and he pulled a gun on me."
Sandra Bruce, 53, of Sunny Isles, Fla., said that when she lived in a middle-class neighborhood in New Jersey, her 15-year-old son invited her into his bedroom. "One of his friends had a .357 magnum," she recalled. "I told them they had to leave."
Then she went to see the juvenile officer in town. "His answer was he knew about it. 'They need it for protection when they go to Newark to buy drugs,' " Bruce said she was told. "It just blew my mind."
David Whitehorn said he remembers the knock at the door six years ago. He said it was his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend--with a gun in his hand. "He basically ran through the alley and started shooting at me," said the 27-year-old account manager now living in Petersburg, Va.
Dianna Hollowell, of Galesburg, Ill., said her abusive ex-husband pointed a gun at her and pulled the trigger. "It wasn't loaded, but I didn't know that at the time," said the 53-year-old former mental health technician. "He always kept his guns right in our bedroom, so I knew if I didn't do what he wanted, they were right there."
Kenneth Felser, a 20-year-old college student who lives in Bellport, N.Y., said that four youths once surrounded his car. "One kid put a gun to my head and said, 'Get out of the car.' I thought I'd just take my chances, so I took off."
Other encounters were more benign.
"My father-in-law shot at me, but he didn't know I was there," said Rosemary Irwin, 73, of Van Nuys, Calif. "We were out hunting rabbits, and he accidentally shot toward me, instead of what he thought was a rabbit. It came a little bit too close."
Then again, "I almost shot him once," Irwin said. She heard someone rustling outside a window one night, unaware that it was her father-in-law, who had locked himself out of the house. "I went and got the shotgun and stood with it cocked. And if he hadn't of sworn like he usually did, I would have shot him."
Staff writer Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
