VOTERS` VIEWS ON FIREARM OWNERS` RIGHTS AND HUNTING


The highly respected research firm Zogby International has conducted the
first installment of its 2004 Zogby Values Poll, surveying 1,200 voters
nationwide on issues that included firearms and hunting. Working with the
Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University and
the O`Leary Report, Zogby`s questions interestingly examine differences in
thinking between people living in the states that voted for George Bush in
2000 (Red states) and Al Gore (Blue states).


Voters were asked: "Do you agree or disagree that American firearm
manufacturers who sell a legal product that is not defective should be
allowed to be sued if a criminal uses their products in a crime?"


Voters in both Red and Blue states strongly oppose such lawsuits-74% of
the former and 72% of the latter. In fact, a majority in every demographic
group opposed the lawsuits; the most strongly opposed, at 83%, were
current members of the military and their families.


The survey also examined how Americans feel about Right-to-Carry laws,
with the pollster asking: "Currently 36 states have laws that allow
residents to qualify for a permit to carry a firearm to protect themselves
if they pass a background check, if they participate in firearms training
and pay a fee to cover administrative costs. Do you feel this is a good
law or a bad law?"


Voters overwhelming favor these self-protection laws by a margin of 79% to
18%. Right-to-Carry drew better than 70% support in every demographic
group, with even non-gun owners indicating their backing by 73% to 23%.


The survey also asked: "Which of the following two statements regarding
gun control comes closer to your own opinion? Statement A: There needs to
be new and tougher gun control legislation to help in the fight against
gun crime; Statement B: There are enough laws on the books. What is needed
is better enforcement of current laws regarding gun control."


By a better than two-to-one margin-66% to 31%-voters nationwide agreed
with Statement B. Only self-identified liberals called for more laws, by a
53% to 44% margin. Moderates solidly favored better enforcement, 62% to
34%.


Voters were asked: "Do you agree the NRA is right to fight gun control on
both the federal and state levels?" NRA`s support stood at 64%, with a
party affiliation breakdown showing Democrats siding with NRA 54% to 42%,
and Republicans 73% to 22%.


Voters were also asked about hunting: "Which of the follow statements
comes closer to your opinion? Statement A: Killing wild animals for food
or sport is an American tradition and an essential part of wildlife
management. Statement B: Hunting is a cruel sport and should be outlawed."
Statement A was chosen by of 92% of gun owners and 73% of non-gun owners.


The survey also addressed wildlife overpopulation, asking: "Some states in
America are being overrun with growing populations of deer, bear, or
wolves. When this happens, which of the following do you feel is the best
option to take? 1) The state should lengthen hunting seasons; 2)
Non-lethal methods of control should be used; 3) People should learn to
live with wildlife."


Lengthening hunting seasons was the overwhelming response, chosen by 61%
of the voters, while only 18% said use non-lethal methods, and 16% opted
for coexistence.


The entire 2004 Zogby Values Poll can be found at www.olearyreport.com



" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age...
I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues
as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity,
bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity,
fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable
choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with
every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we
accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we
kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for
Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and
then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We
*assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his
fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation
to keep the State out of the church business, we've
destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*.
Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

"Gunner" wrote in message
...

VOTERS` VIEWS ON FIREARM OWNERS` RIGHTS AND HUNTING


The highly respected research firm Zogby International...

Sorry, NRA, you're two years too late. Zogby International is the research
firm that *used to be* highly respected. Since 2002, it's become the tramp
of the industry:

http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/1/mooney-c.html

This is the same Zogby that conducted a poll for the Doris Day Animal League
and found (?) that 51% of Americans believe that chimpanzees are entitled to
the same rights as human children:

"First, the poll didn't ask about primates -- a category including anything
from pygmy mouse lemurs to gorillas -- but about chimpanzees. Second, the
actual question gave respondents four options to choose from: In brief, they
could say that chimps ought to be treated "like property," "similar to
children," "the same as adults" or "not sure." Given this particular set of
choices, option two was the obvious pick -- almost as if respondents were
steered toward it. And after 51 percent had chosen "similar to children,"
the Zogby survey inexplicably translated "similar" into "the same" in its
conclusions -- a very big difference. The Doris Day Animal League then
reported this in its press materials."

(From "John Zogby's Creative Polls, And a closer look at his methods" by
Chris Mooney, 2.1.03, _The American Prospect_)

No doubt Americans support hunting and firearms ownership to a high degree.
But don't count on the results of this poll to give you any idea how *many*
of them actually do. If somebody commissions a poll and wants a particular
result, Zogby has, in recent years, found a way to get it.

--
Ed Huntress
(remove "3" from email address for email reply)

Over population of wildlife?
I have many deer come eat my plants, walk out in traffic and poop in my
yard. Each day I have 10 to 20 Wild Turkey in my front yard eating what
little grass is poking through the snow. But the deer are not the ones
removing the wooded areas and paving the world. I have no problem with
hunting but to claim "over population" of wildlife? I worry a whole lot more
of the drunk driving into may car than a deer.
Now I know I should not have bit on this one but I did.

Wayne wrote:

Over population of wildlife?
I have many deer come eat my plants, walk out in traffic and poop in
my yard. Each day I have 10 to 20 Wild Turkey in my front yard
eating what little grass is poking through the snow. But the deer
are not the ones removing the wooded areas and paving the world. I
have no problem with hunting but to claim "over population" of
wildlife? I worry a whole lot more of the drunk driving into may car
than a deer.
Now I know I should not have bit on this one but I did.

Even better - many hunters talk about how their hobby *increases* the
animal population. I just tell them to hunt in town since that's where
the real game shortage seems to be. ;-)

Wayne (the other one)

On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 14:19:52 GMT, "wmbjk" wrote:

Wayne wrote:

Over population of wildlife?
I have many deer come eat my plants, walk out in traffic and poop in
my yard. Each day I have 10 to 20 Wild Turkey in my front yard
eating what little grass is poking through the snow. But the deer
are not the ones removing the wooded areas and paving the world. I
have no problem with hunting but to claim "over population" of
wildlife? I worry a whole lot more of the drunk driving into may car
than a deer.
Now I know I should not have bit on this one but I did.

Even better - many hunters talk about how their hobby *increases* the
animal population. I just tell them to hunt in town since that's where
the real game shortage seems to be. ;-)

Wayne (the other one)

How much have you contributed to Pittman-Robertson and other wildlive
(not just game)
management funds this year?

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/...21025011.shtml
http://www.qc.ec.gc.ca/faune/sauvagi...m_2-2-99e.html
http://www.sfu.ca/~mauser/papers/hun...cence-rept.pdf

Hunters pay millions of dollars in license and tag fees that pay for
wildlife management.
Hunters have sponsored legislation that has created conservation
stamps and funds to protect and enhance wildlife habitat.
Through organizations such as Whitetails Unlimited, Pheasants Forever,
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail
Unlimited, the Mule Deer Foundation, Ducks Unlimited and other
conservation groups, hunters have raised millions of dollars and
contributed thousands of hours to benefit wildlife.

Hunters
Do you know that you have contributed over $5,5 BILLION for
conservation in less than 60 years?

That you annually pay over $372 MILLION a year for conservation?

That you do more to aid wildlife than any other group in America?

Many people would support hunting more if they knew who was picking up
the bills for conservation - hunters.

(gunners note: these figures are only those from Pittman Robertson
and other taxes and fees, there are many other more direct
expenditures such as hunting licenses etc etc)

Then if you so care to do so..we can discuss Dingle/Johnson wildlife
management funding...

On over population..you might read this..plenty of other information
available on the net.

http://eces.org/articles/000491.php
" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age...
I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues
as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity,
bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity,
fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable
choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with
every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we
accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we
kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for
Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and
then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We
*assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his
fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation
to keep the State out of the church business, we've
destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*.
Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

Gunner wrote:

How much have you contributed to Pittman-Robertson and other wildlive
(not just game)
management funds this year?

Zip. I think of wildlife in local terms. So I leave it alone except for
supplying water. Photo taken from our living room
http://www.citlink.net/~wmbjk/images/kitty.JPG Near as I can tell, the
only things the local hunters are doing is reducing the wildlife
population every chance they get, tearing up my road without giving a
thought to who will fix it, and leaving their empties for me to pick up.
All the considerate, concerned with wildlife types must live in your
neck of the woods.

Wayne

On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 09:57:50 GMT, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

"Gunner" wrote in message
.. .

VOTERS` VIEWS ON FIREARM OWNERS` RIGHTS AND HUNTING


The highly respected research firm Zogby International...

Sorry, NRA, you're two years too late. Zogby International is the research
firm that *used to be* highly respected. Since 2002, it's become the tramp
of the industry:

http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/1/mooney-c.html

This is the same Zogby that conducted a poll for the Doris Day Animal League
and found (?) that 51% of Americans believe that chimpanzees are entitled to
the same rights as human children:

"First, the poll didn't ask about primates -- a category including anything
from pygmy mouse lemurs to gorillas -- but about chimpanzees. Second, the
actual question gave respondents four options to choose from: In brief, they
could say that chimps ought to be treated "like property," "similar to
children," "the same as adults" or "not sure." Given this particular set of
choices, option two was the obvious pick -- almost as if respondents were
steered toward it. And after 51 percent had chosen "similar to children,"
the Zogby survey inexplicably translated "similar" into "the same" in its
conclusions -- a very big difference. The Doris Day Animal League then
reported this in its press materials."

(From "John Zogby's Creative Polls, And a closer look at his methods" by
Chris Mooney, 2.1.03, _The American Prospect_)

No doubt Americans support hunting and firearms ownership to a high degree.
But don't count on the results of this poll to give you any idea how *many*
of them actually do. If somebody commissions a poll and wants a particular
result, Zogby has, in recent years, found a way to get it.

Hummm then it sounds like Dems polls doesnt it?

I posted it without comment.

Gunner

" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age...
I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues
as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity,
bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity,
fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable
choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with
every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we
accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we
kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for
Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and
then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We
*assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his
fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation
to keep the State out of the church business, we've
destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*.
Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

"Gunner" wrote in message
...

No doubt Americans support hunting and firearms ownership to a high
degree.
But don't count on the results of this poll to give you any idea how
*many*
of them actually do. If somebody commissions a poll and wants a
particular
result, Zogby has, in recent years, found a way to get it.

Hummm then it sounds like Dems polls doesnt it?

I posted it without comment.

I know. That's why somebody had to comment. ~8-)

[wearing ski cap today; too cold for the Yankees cap]

Ed Huntress

In article , Gunner says...

The highly respected research firm Zogby International

This is a joke, right? There really is a Zogg firm?

Voters were also asked about hunting: "Which of the follow statements
comes closer to your opinion? Statement A: Killing wild animals for food
or sport is an American tradition and an essential part of wildlife
management.

All I can think of here is that *amazing* hunter mpeg clip that
was linked here a week or so ago, with the $100 per pound
venison result! "Lobster don't cost but twenty a pound!!"

I would honestly have to say (a) to the question above.

Jim

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