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Polls Show America’s Record-Low Support for Stricter Gun Laws

Polls Show Record-Low Support for Stricter Gun Laws

National Rifle Association

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- Results from a just-released Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that, more and more, Americans are in support of the Second Amendment and its individual guarantee of law-abiding citizens to Keep and Bear Arms, and oppose more restrictions on that right.

Among the surveys highlights:

• Only 39% of Americans say the United States needs stricter gun control;
• 50% are opposed to stricter gun control laws and 11% are not sure;
• 69% of adults say city governments do not have the right to prevent citizens from owning handguns;
• 87% of Republicans, 52% of Democrats, and 72% of “unaffiliateds” say cities do not have the right to ban handgun ownership;
• 71% of Americans continue to believe that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of an average citizen to own a gun, and;
• 63% of voters agreed with the Supreme Court’s landmark District of Columbia v. Heller decision, saying the Second Amendment granted individuals the right to own a gun for self-defense.

Also released this week were the results of a new Gallup poll (Gallup’s annual Crime Poll, conducted October 1-4, 2009). The results of this poll show that a new low of only 44% of Americans who say the laws covering firearm sales should be made stricter. That is down five points in the last year, and 34 points from the high of 78%, recorded the first time the question was asked in 1990.

The Gallup poll also found a new low in the percentage of Americans favoring a ban on handgun possession except by the police and other authorized persons, a question that dates back to 1959. Only 28% now favor such a ban.

The poll states that, “Compared with views in 2000, each major demographic or attitudinal subgroup has shown a shift toward a more pro-gun stance on the question about whether gun laws should be more strict or less strict.”

In conclusion, the poll found that, “Americans continue to trend toward holding attitudes that are more in favor of gun rights, and Gallup today finds new low points in favor of gun control on two separate measures dating back at least two decades,” and that, “the current poll marks the first time Gallup has not found a significantly higher proportion of Americans preferring tighter gun-sale regulations.”

The results of these latest polls make clear —yet again— that more and more Americans overwhelmingly support our Second Amendment rights and lawful gun ownership and reject gun control schemes.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

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Norming Guns Away: Warning about the United Nations
by Paul Gallant, Alan Chwick, and Joanne Eisen

United Nations Monument to Gun Control

Dillon Precision

Scottsdale, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- We American gun-owners need to become more familiar with the process of “norming.”

The “norm” of civilian disarmament already surrounds our country and has the potential to nullify our Second Amendment right. When global firearm-prohibitionists speak about “norming,” they are actually discussing the process wherein society becomes increasingly hostile to the possession of arms in the hands of civilians.

This standard, or ‘norm,’ was deliberately created during several decades of lies about the safety and use of firearms, their benefits to society, and the kind of people who possess them.

And yet, we gun-owners remain unaware of its ramifications and its dangers.

During the creation of this norm, we have seen the prohibitionists lie time and time again, magnifying the costs to society of private firearm ownership, minimizing their benefits, and creating widespread fear in the process. We know we’re on the side of truth because we don’t need to manipulate the facts to fit our philosophy, as do the prohibitionists. In two decades of firearms research and experience, we have never seen a deliberate attempt by unbiased firearm researchers to obfuscate data.

The more people who accept the norm, the stronger the norm becomes.

Owen Greene of Saferworld, an anti-gun non-governmental organization (NGO), elaborated: “It is generally agreed that controls on possession by civilians of Small Arms and Light Weapons [SALW, an ambiguous group of weapons that includes ordinary firearms] are a critical element of national controls to prevent, combat, and reduce SALW trafficking, proliferation and misuse.”

Greene is secure in the knowledge that this norm already has extremely vigorous and widespread global support.

The new norm does not allow for self-defense, as government intends to provide that service for us. Even if one might actually comply with strict regulations and even if one might actually be permitted to keep his/her sporting gun at home, instead of being locked up at the local range, these guns will never be available for emergency use.

One of the most damning ramifications of the new norm is that those few remaining gun-owners will be looked upon with disdain.

This is the norm that is presently being codified into a global legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that will encompass all conventional weapons.

It might be possible for our laws to be changed because of this treaty, even without a Presidential signature, or Senate ratification. The ATT is set to become the global norm, and the global firearm-prohibitionists would only need to wait for an opportune time to act. We expect that 175 of the approximately 200 nations in today’s world would sign onto the ATT. Although many of these nations will sign with no expectation of complying with its provisions, this will not affect the strength of the norm.

According to attorney Joseph Bruce Alonzo, “gun control laws could affect United States parties in the event that gun control becomes a customary international law [i.e. becomes a norm]…. Non consensual customary international law may arise as a result of international practice. This international practice may be evidenced by events not approved by the United States but eventually held binding on the United States.”

That’s how this norm, or soft law, has the potential to trump the Second Amendment.

John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, recognized the norming process, and rejected it as being destructive to our Constitution.

Expressing his displeasure, he wrote: “Much of the development of norming comes as a result of people who are dissatisfied with political outcomes they have achieved at the state and federal level and who are determined to take their argument into the broader international context, who see the norming process as the way to constrain the United States.”

There is another norm—our norm—which was bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers.

Ed Laurence of the Monterey Institute of International Studies complained : “An opposing norm that favors continued high levels of arms sales—based on the belief that citizens have the “right” to buy guns for self-defense, self-determination, entertainment, or to provide for their families—is preventing the development of a global consensus on small arms policy.”

We are the last remaining hope for the sovereignty of individuals and the civilian possession of firearms.

U.S. civilians own about 270 million firearms, about 30% of the total global stockpile of 875 million firearms. But we estimate that only about 5 million people, out of approximately 70-80 million American gun-owners, have joined in one or more activist groups that have been formed to protect our right to private firearm ownership.

This simply is not enough. We must get gun-owners out of the closet and actively working hard with us.

How undamaged we and our rights emerge from this United Nations firestorm, that will engulf us for the next 5-10 years, depends upon how willing we all are to accept our responsibilities today.

About:
Dillon Precision is the only choice for all your reloading needs. Consider the quality and innovation behind each product, the lifetime “No BS” warranty, and the unparalleled reputation for post-sale service, and there simply isn’t any other option. Your only decision is which machine to buy. Dillon offers a machine for every budget or reloading need. From the “pistol only” Square Deal, the “workhorse” RL 550B, the fully progressive XL 650, to the commercial grade Super 1050. They even offer a progressive shotshell loader that blows away everything on the market. Visit: www.dillonprecision.com

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