POLITICAL REPORT
By Chris W. Cox
NRA-ILA Executive Director

Measuring Opinions, or Manufacturing Them?

We've all heard Mark Twain's comment that "there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." In politics, a fourth kind follows closely: public opinion polling.

Over the years, polling has lost its credibility for many reasons. Though traditionally conducted by phone, pollsters can't reach those who use only cell phones. Caller ID and voicemail systems have also made it harder for pollsters to reach a representative sample.

Then there are the pollsters themselves. Frank Luntz, a once-popular political pollster, has been reprimanded by the American Association for Public Opinion Research and censured by the National Council on Public Polls. Luntz said the key to polling is "to ask a question in the way that you get the right answer."

So it was no surprise that when New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg went shopping for a pollster, he hired Luntz. Remember what CNN said about Bloomberg in 2007: "When it comes to guns—specifically, getting rid of them—New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is on a crusade...on the anti-gun issue, Bloomberg is a man arguably possessed." His irrational crusade has gone nowhere in the Congress, however, even though Bloomberg poured millions of dollars of his personal fortune into the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, or MAIG. His latest stunt was to have Luntz try to "prove" that gun owners and even self-described NRA members support his extremist anti-gun agenda. (Of course, they don't know who is an NRA member since they have no access to NRA member rolls.)

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., called attention to the bogus poll. In particular, they claimed gun owners and NRA members support Bloomberg's proposal to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which prevents the public release of firearm trace data gathered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That's not even what the poll asked. Luntz asked participants if they agreed that "The federal government should not restrict the police's ability to access, use and share data that helps them enforce federal, state and local gun laws."

Well, Congress certainly agreed, which is why the Tiahrt Amendment has always clearly allowed law enforcement agencies to get trace information to "enforce" the law in actual criminal investigations.

Bloomberg, by contrast, wants to use the data in bogus lawsuits against the firearm industry. The unrestricted use of sensitive trace data for political propaganda and reckless litigation is exactly what the Tiahrt Amendment was drafted to prevent. The amendment has long enjoyed the support of the Fraternal Order of Police—and in a development that caused major heartburn at the Brady Campaign, the Tiahrt language was not only supported, but improved, by the Obama administration.

Other questions to justify the MAIG agenda go on for pages and are equally unfounded. Yet oddly enough, none of the anti-gun activists' news releases mentioned the poll's many contrary findings. For example:

• 83 percent of gun owners (and 92 percent of "NRA members") agree that "Law-abiding Americans should have the freedom to choose how to protect themselves, based on their personal situation."

• 92 percent of gun owners (and 95 percent of "NRA members") agree that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in last year's Heller case was correct.

• 86 percent of gun owners (and 93 percent of "NRA members") agree that the Second Amendment should prevent all levels of government from infringing on the right to arms.

• 71 percent of gun owners (and 83 percent of "NRA members") think laws on gun sales should be less strict or kept as they are now.

Other questions showed strong support for laws recognizing Right-to-Carry permits in national parks and for letting people transport firearms in baggage on Amtrak trains. In many ways, the poll is an impressive validation of your NRA's current agenda in the Congress and the courts.

It's not a new tactic for anti-gun extremists to claim that NRA members support their agenda. But lawmakers clearly understand there are millions of gun owners and actual NRA members who value their Second Amendment rights. Legislators know this because they hear from you on legislative issues and see your impact on Election Day. And I can tell you personally that millions of gun owners are embracing the NRA in the form of memberships, renewals and contributions.

We see that unity in another survey question that asked whether "criminals who possess, use and traffic in illegal guns should be punished to the maximum extent of the law." According to the survey, a combined 95 percent of NRA members and gun owners agreed.

I think we can all agree the criminal misuse of firearms should be punished. It's a shame that instead of backing that mainstream idea, Bloomberg and Luntz try to promote pointless restrictions on the Second Amendment of all Americans.