FIREARMS DIGEST: IPSOS REID ASKS BOGUS GUN QUESTION!
Date: Oct 22, 2006 11:55 AM

—–Original Message—–
From: [email protected]
Sent: October 21, 2006 6:05 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V9 #981

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Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2006 14:12:02 -0600 (CST)
From: Bruce Mills <[email protected]>
Subject: [URGENT] IPSOS REID ASKS BOGUS GUN QUESTION!

In the latest survey by Ipsos Reid, “In Wake Of The Dawson College
Shootings”, conducted on behalf of the Montreal Gazette and published in
that paper on Oct 21st, the first question asked was:

“A semi-automatic firearm is capable of loading and firing continuously,
so only a trigger pull is required to fire each round. It is a
restricted weapon in Canada, meaning it can be obtained only for target
practice, as part of a historical collection, and in very rare cases for
a job or self-protection. Should semi-automatic firearms be banned in
Canada?”

THIS IS BOTH PATENTLY FALSE AND INCREDIBLY BIASED!

When someone who has no basic knowledge of firearms mechanics hears
“firing continuously”, they will almost certainly think of a *fully
automatic* firearm, not a semi-automatic one. Semi-automatic firearms
DO NOT FIRE CONTINUOUSLY! By the time the respondent hears the rest of
this leading statement, “so only a trigger pull is required to fire each
round”, they have already made the flawed assumption that the question
is about “fully automatic” firearms. Even some gun owners could make
this false assumption, if they weren’t paying close enough attention to
the question.

This is compounded by the second sentence of the “lead in”: “It is
a
restricted weapon in Canada…” – not at all true! Approximately 75% of
all semi-automatic firearms are non-restricted because they are
“commonly used for hunting and sporting purposes”. Semi-automatic
handguns are restricted (with some being “prohibited”), along with a
couple of semi-automatic long guns as well. All fully automatic
firearms are already prohibited, unless you are part of the
“grandfathered” class of owners.

Millions of semi-automatic long guns are owned by law abiding Canadians,
and are used safely and legally thousands of times every day in Canada
for hunting, skeet and trap shooting, and pest and livestock control.
Neither they nor their owners pose any risk to public safety.

These false and misleading statements call the results of the entire
survey into question.

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NOTE: THE RESULTS OF THIS POLL WERE PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING PAPERS:

Guns: a Question of Control: Ban semi-automatics, Quebecers say
(Montreal Gazette, 2006/10/21, page: A1)
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Gun control laws won’t stop rampages, polls suggest: Surveys (The Ottawa
Citizen, 2006/10/21, Hubert Bauch, page: G7)
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Stronger gun laws won’t stop rampages: poll (Edmonton Journal,
2006/10/21, page: B13)
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Tougher gun laws would not stop rampages, poll suggests (The Windsor
Star, 2006/10/21, page: A10)
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Stronger gun laws won’t stop rampages, polls suggest (Times Colonist
(Victoria), 2006/10/21, page: A2)
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Gun laws won’t help, poll says Survey launched after slaying (WINNIPEG
FREE PRESS, 2006/10/21, page: A12)
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Gun control confidence shot down: Polls show Canadians unsure (Calgary
Herald, 2006/10/21, page: A8)

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !