pants on fire
Opponents of gun control often pretend to represent the interests of law enforcement, while painting people who favor sensible firearms regulations as naive liberals who wouldn’t know a 9 mm from an AK47. They should take note that most of those on the front lines of gun violence support tougher gun control measures, including laws to require background checks on all people purchasing firearms.
A new study — Police Chiefs’ Perceptions of the Regulation of Firearms — found that law enforcement leaders back gun control proposals that are generally opposed by groups such as the National Rifle Association.
The study, conducted by researchers from Wayne State University, the University of Toledo and Kent State University, found that more than 80% of police chiefs favored mandatory background checks for all handgun, rifle and shotgun purchases; equipping new handguns with trigger locks; and requiring tamper-resistant serial numbers on firearms.
I do not know that the NRA ever opposed any such measure. The NRA pushed the instant check system; supported the 1968 Gun Control Act (which required serial numbers on firearms); and was largely indifferent on requiring trigger locks. So, that is a lie. And the next paragraph says:
The gun lobby has consistently opposed such sensible measures and others, including a modest ban on assault weapons, which have the support of most Americans. For the most part, politicians have rolled over.
They repeat the lie. Then they attempt to imply that police chiefs supported a particular bill.
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:47 pm
There’s also a huge gotcha in the second word of “Police Chiefs’ Perceptions of the Regulation of Firearms”. Police chiefs are far more like politicians than like working cops. If the city council that hired them is antigun, they’ll be anti-gun, at least in public. The cops that are out on the street probably have a quite different opinion.
May 2nd, 2006 at 7:23 pm
The cops on the street do have a very different opinion-which is why the article doesn’t mention surveys of that population on the subject.