Survey Finds Law Enforcement United Against Gun Control--99 Percent Believe "Assault Weapons" Ban is Not Most Important Measure to Stop Mass Shootings

This week, PoliceOne.com released the results of an extensive online survey of about 15,000 active and retired law enforcement officers of all ranks and from departments ranging in size from less than 25 to more than 1,000.

These results strongly show that law enforcement officers do not support President Obama's gun control agenda. They do, however, strongly support the Right to Carry for law-abiding Americans. The survey respondents are united in their desire for politicians to focus on keeping firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill and to reject unconstitutional gun control measures that infringe on Second Amendment rights. 

"The American people, and particularly the members of law enforcement, want politicians in Washington to stop pursuing a failed political agenda and get to work fixing our broken mental health system, improving school security, and getting criminals off the streets," said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox.

The following are some key findings: 

• An extraordinary 99 percent said policies other than an "assault weapons" ban are most important to prevent mass shootings. 
• Almost 96 percent said that a ban on standard capacity magazines would not reduce violent crime. 
• More than 91 percent stated that the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime should have stiff, mandatory sentences, and no plea-bargains. 
• More than 91 percent stated they supported the Right to Carry by law abiding Americans. 
• More than 81 percent said that "gun buy-backs" do not reduce gun violence. 
• Eighty percent believe legally armed citizens can reduce casualties in incidents of mass violence. 
• Nearly 80 percent said that a ban on private transfers of firearms between law-abiding citizens would not reduce violent crime. 
• More than 76 percent indicated that legally armed citizens are important to reducing crime. 
• More than 76 percent support the arming of trained and qualified teachers or administrators who volunteer to carry a firearm. 
• More than 70 percent said that a ban on "assault weapons" would not reduce violent crime. 
• More than 70 percent opposed the idea of a national registry of legal gun sales. 
• Nearly 68 percent said magazine capacity restrictions would negatively affect them personally. 
• More than 60 percent said that the passage of Obama's gun control legislation would not improve officer safety.

Please click here to read the complete survey.