17% of Right Thinking Americans Oppose Gun Control

August 11, 2012

Like the rest of the gun control industry, Margie Omero wants you to know that the majority of Americans—even those on the right—support “tougher” gun control laws. Yes, well, the Democratic pollster/president for way left Momentum Analysis is a little vague when it comes to the exact definition of “tougher.” The HuffPo columnist divides respondents into middle to right political affiliations and whether or not they want [undefined] major or [undefined] minor restrictions on owning guns. Wait! What’s this? On average, 17 percent of polled Americans favor NO restrictions on owning guns? That’s more than the number of folks who want to reserve heaters for cops. What does that tell you Margie? Riddle me this Stat Woman: how do Dems line-up on unrestricted firearms?

13 COMMENTS

jwm August 11, 2012 At 12:08

more gun control. the only thing left is to not allow us guns at all. “shall not be infringed” must have a different meaning for these folks than it does for me.
Rahul August 11, 2012 At 12:17

The majority in every category is for minor restrictions on owning guns but in the total the majority is for major restrictions? How does that work? Had a long night and the brain is a little slow right now but that doesn’t seem right to me…
- Wikitorix August 11, 2012 At 13:13
  
  It’s called Simpson’s Paradox. It’s a real mathematical phenomenon.
  - Matt in FL August 11, 2012 At 13:39
    
    That’s actually pretty fascinating.
  - Rahul August 11, 2012 At 17:52
    
    Thanks for the explanation…I don’t know how I passed statistics in college haha
RKBA August 11, 2012 At 12:19

How can the ‘Total’ for ‘Major Restrictions on Owning Guns’ be higher than ‘Minor Restrictions on Owning Guns’ (38 vs 37) while in every category ‘Minor Restrictions’ has far more support than ‘Major Restrictions’ (45 vs 31, 44 vs 29, 45 vs 27)?

Guess I need another cup of coffee before that chart even makes sense to me. Or perhaps it is just an ‘Intellectual Elitist’ thing… I dunno….

BTW, I am party to ‘No Restrictions on Owning Guns’, as I am certain this is what our Founding Fathers intended when they wrote “…shall not be infringed.”
Aharon August 11, 2012 At 12:21

It’s ironic that many of those people traditionally for gun control or a total ban would be among the most vulnerable to a post-ban victim rich environment.
Josh in GA August 11, 2012 At 12:42

Every comment over on the original post pretty much rips this drivel to shreds. One of the best is adding up the totals from the chart, 50% support no restrictions/minor restrictions on guns, while 48% support major restrictions/LEO only. So, using HER numbers, no restrictions/minor restrictions actually has more support than major restrictions/LEO only. What an idiot. I know HuffPo posts drivel regularly, but this is a new low.

Also, not sure how she worked out those totals, the numbers dont quite add up. I got 19% no restrictions, 45% minor restrictions, 29% major restrictions, and 7% LEO only. Maybe she had a little bit of creative number interpretation going on? Im a biology grad student, so I see my fair share of data being twisted to show what you want to show. Happens all the time in major journals.
Chris August 11, 2012 At 12:57

How big of a majority does it take to turn an innate individual human right into an arbitrary social preference?
- Greg Camp August 11, 2012 At 14:00
  
  That’s specified in the fantasy constitution that control freaks are reading. One third support is all that’s needed to pass any new law to keep us safe. It’s in the next article after the one that covers the care and feeding of unicorns.
Joseph August 12, 2012 At 05:00

I hope that the person isn’t the financial advisor on CNN.
Dogman August 12, 2012 At 07:14

Paradox or not, the totals in the chart make no sense.

I changed my minor in college to avoid taking a second statistics class. The first one was enough to show me that numbers can routinely be manipulated toward any pre-conceived goal. Later in life I saw this happen on a regular basis.
Mike in NC August 12, 2012 At 10:16

I suspect that the ‘total’ values are for the full data set, but the HuffPo author only chose to present the total and the ‘right’ subgroups in the graph.

One other point about dividing opinions on gun control into no/minor/major/illegal is that they are subjective. I would not be surprised to find that the majority of readers here on TTAG feel that laws are ALREADY in the ‘major’ restrictions category while the HuffPo author probably feels that the laws are currently withing either ‘no’ or ‘minor’ restriction groupings. Looking at a map and choosing a destination does little good if you can not even agree on where you ARE.