From Gallup.

Survey performed April 28-30, 2000:
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"Do you think all owners of pistols and revolvers should be required to register with the government?"

Favor: 76%
Oppose: 22%
No Opinion: 2%

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"In addition to registering handguns, would you favor or oppose the federal government requiring all handgun owners to obtain a special license in order to own handguns?"

Favor: 69%
Oppose: 29%
No Opinion: 2%

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"Would you favor or oppose a law limiting the number of guns an individual can purchase to one per month?"

Favor: 58%
Oppose: 40%
No Opinion: 2%

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"Would you favor or oppose a law requiring that all guns sold in the United States be equipped with built-in trigger locks?"

Favor: 79%
Oppose: 19%
No Opinion: 2%

From a survey performed May 5-7, 2000:
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"In general, do you feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?"

More Strict: 62% (Men 52%, Women 72%)
Less Strict: 5% (Men 8%, Women 2%)
Kept as now: 31% (Men 39%, Women 24%)
No Opinion: 2% (Men 1%, Women 2%)

The page of stats goes on to explain how this meshes with voting preferences, and the basic conclusion seems to be that ultimately attitude towards gun control is not one of the top priorities American voters look for in their elected officials.

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The above post was mulled-over, composed, and posted during time Tom would have better spent on his plethora of homework and homework-related exercises. Now don't you feel special?

Well, maybe most people don't think it's that important, then.

The first two questions seem to indicate that 25% of the population do not want further gun control. That's about 68 million people (for comparison, Texas has 17.5 million people). I think state-based information would be more pertinent in this case.

Gah!

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Oh, goody, the Sea Monkeys I ordered have arrived. Heh heh heh, look at them cavort and caper.
~C. Montgomery Burns

And be sure to visit The Field Marshal project http://fieldmarshal.virtualave.net/

quote:

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it's not hard to become a mother these days...

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???

Trust me Frank. For approximately 50% of the population, it's impossible to become a mother (however, being a mother is another issue altogether ).

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"When you�re a geek . . .
You�re a geek all the way,
From your first sci-fi con
To your last dying day."
-- James Lileks
http://www.geocities.com/cyrano_jones.geo/

Again, I'd like to see a law that WOULD help it.

It's really quite simple: I MIGHT go along with confiscation of all guns under one circumstance. That is if you can gaurentee me that when you confiscate the guns of all law-abiding citizins that have no intention of using their firearms in a crime, you will also confiscate ALL guns belonging to those that DO intend to commit a crime with them. Can you guarentee me that?

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"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
-- Adolph Hitler, 1933

There's a link to a more recent one on that page.

I remind you that this is by Time magazine, the people who made FDR "Man of the Century" because he "taught people to love the government", so no accusations of a conservative slant, please.

FDR was in the running, and there was an article about him in the same issue. Oddly enough, your alleged quote appears nowhere in it, nor does it appear in the guest commentary written by Bill Clinton (!). Sorry. As for the liberal bias of Time, I'll believe it when they stop proclaiming that Reagan saved America.

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"Oh, it's an anti-anti-WTO song. It's essentially a pro-Starbucks song. I saw this picture of a guy sticking his foot through a plate-glass window in a Starbucks in Seattle, and he was wearing a Nike. Man, couldn't you just change your shoes?"
--
M. Doughty

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"Blind faith is the crutch of fools"

First, I would like to state my opinion, obtained as a result of education in the many philosophy and logic courses I took in college, that polls are worth only slightly less than the paper they are printed on. A clever pollster can slant questions, or the sample, or use a certain climate, to create virtually any result desired.

Also, the results of this poll do not take into account most Americans' startling ignorance (well, not SO startling, they were probably watching 'Friends' when the specials came on) of what 20,000 or so gun laws are already in place, or the enforcement rates / effectiveness (lack thereof) of the same.

Every shooting that occurs now, every time a gun goes off in a non-legal manner, even when nobody is HIT, violates an average of 20 laws, some of which aren't even connected to guns. For instance: Discharging a weapon within city limits, violating noise ordinances, discharging a weapon in the commission of a crime, etc. etc. Most people who do the criminal shooting aren't legally in posession of the weapon in the FIRST place, so explain to me how it matters? (I suppose it would help in framing someone, though, steal their gun, use it, and leave it behind to be found by the cops who can then immediately trace it back to the owner)

And as for the suggestion that US'ers (I'm trying to stop using 'Americans' since it confuses some of our less-brilliant members) are paranoid because they simultaneously proclaim their country the 'greatest' AND complain that their freedoms are being chipped away at by others... there is an old quote that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance," and it is at least as true today as it ever was. And if you DON'T believe that there are folks out there, both here and abroad, who would be perfectly happy to have you under their thumb, believing only what they tell you to, doing only what they want you to, having only what rights and thoughts that THEY want you to... then, my friend, that makes YOU the delusional one.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

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"Blind faith is the crutch of fools"

Admittedly, the one persecuted minority group I belong to, (non-Christian in a high-Fundie area) and the few I support, aren't CURRENTLY in danger of annihilation, but that's no reason to let up on being vigilant. (In fact, the argument can easily be made that the vigilance itself is a major factor in survival.) If any given thing has happened in the past, then it is possible for that given thing to occur again in the future, under the right conditions.

There are sheep out there who will do anything they're told.
There are leaders of dubious scruples vying for power.
There are people who wouldn't think twice about wiping you off the surface of the earth if they thought that's what their God wanted.
It's not just the random scumbag you need to worry about, it's ORGANIZED villiany.

"Oh, but that can't happen here!"
Yes it can. It's been close more than once.
William Jennings Bryan
Joe McCarthy
Pat Robertson

I won't say Clinton yet, but sometimes it sure looks like it.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi