Montreal Gazette misleads with bogus poll

The Montreal Gazette has a gun-control theme going this weekend to try to capitalize on the (apparently) never-ending hysteria in Quebec over gun control.
An article by Hubert Bauch, "Guns: a Question of Control: Ban semi-automatics, Quebecers say", attempts to report on the results of recent joint "surveys" conducted by Leger Marketing and Ipsos-Reid for the Montreal Gazette.
One of my correspondents offers this observation and serious criticism, based on the lead question in the Ipsos-Reid survey:

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 few 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.

This is a serious skewing of the survey. It is factually invalid, and as a consequence, there can be no validity to the survey results whatsoever. Worse, it almost appears that it was deliberate. The errors of fact in the question are so grievous that one could reasonably conclude the intention was to produce the results obtained. The Gazette has never hidden its support for the registry and its anti-gun stance, but in this internet age, MSMs that blatantly manipulate public opinion, or fail to validate their sources, especially sources they have contracted to produce data, will be called to task. The days of yellow journalism in the mainstream are over. Just ask Christine Lawand.

If you agree, drop John Wright at Ipsos-Reid a note and tell him what you think, or fire a letter off to the Montreal Gazette.

For a discussion of what a semi-automatic firearm is, check this earlier post.

Update:

Numerous writers have challenged Ipsos-Reid on this poll. The following response has been received by several of them:

Thanks for your very thorough review.

All I can say is that this is the first time I can recall doing a poll like we did: The Montreal Gazette asked the polling firm Leger to poll Quebec on the topic... they wrote the questions and did the poll and then we received the exact translations from our client, CanWest, who asked to run them, as is, in the rest of Canada.

So, we had no involvement and influence on them except the data collection itself and a corresponding write up.

This, as I said, is rare and probably has happened only 3 or 4 times in the 18 years I've been with the firm...

So, thank you for your thoughts and I will send them on to CanWest directly and Leger.

Regards,
--------------------------
John Wright
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Ipsos Reid

So, besides handing off responsibility to Leger and the Gazette for the contents of the poll, Mr. Wright hints that the process itself was unusual. Are we looking at deliberately manufactured results to support the Gazette's position on gun control, and provide material in support of their special weekend edition? Did Leger fact-check their survey before taking it to the streets, or did they deliberately skew the questions to achieve a specific survey objective? These are important questions given the extent to which these straw polls are used to attempt to influence public opinion. Maybe this entire industry is crying to be regulated....

Gun Policy: Controlling Violence or Political Posturing?

Gun Policy: Controlling Violence or Political Posturing?

By Bruce Gold

One unfortunate result of the recent gun violence is the re-emergence of the politically attractive idea of blaming inanimate objects - guns- for the wilful acts of criminals. This is an attractive strategy because it's emotionally appealing to an upset public and spares politicians the difficult task of going after organized crime or deranged criminals. The policy has the further advantage of outraging law-abiding gun owners, who know perfectly well that inanimate objects don't cause violence. This makes a blatantly political manoeuver seem bold and somehow "heroic". Most importantly, attention can be drawn away from expensive, difficult to address problems, such as organized crime, criminal subcultures and adequate opportunities for our ongoing flood of immigrants with a politically correct "morality crusade" against guns.

The $380,000 contract the Liberal government gave Kim Doran (an employee of the Liberal Party) to represent the Coalition for Gun Control is a measure of how appealing this strategy was to the Liberals.
[...]

The rest is here.

Referenced in Resource Library - Viewpoint

A Five-Minute Handbook for Gun-Rights Activists

FIVE MINUTES TO FREEDOM!

A FIVE-MINUTE HANDBOOK FOR GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

Copyright © 2000 by JASPAR@aol.com
All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution is permitted so long as this copyright notice is attached; the complete Handbook (including the introduction) is reproduced; no word or words are altered in any way whatsoever, and the web site address [ http://www.jaspar.net ] is attached.
Thank you!

INTRODUCTION

I've been a gun rights activist for nearly 10 years.

I wasted a lot of time for the first 5 years because no one gave me the rule book you are now reading.

Maybe that's because no one had written it. This is the stuff I wish I had known starting on day one.

If you've just arrived at this party, the next 5 minutes you spend reading this might save you 5 years of otherwise wasted time and energy.

If you've been in the gun rights game for a while, this handbook will be the fastest refresher course you've ever taken.

This past year I've received a lot of mail from jittery gun owners who are finally waking up to what's happening to our right to keep and bear arms (RKBA).

This handbook is mostly for them.

If the rules I list below scare off a few folks, so be it. I want to tell it like it really is -- to give a quick snapshot of the tips, tricks and tactics that actually work in RKBA activism.

The bad news is that this is not a complete list of the rules.

The good news is that there will never be a complete list of rules.

The rules listed below are based on my own experience from working thousands of hours with down and dirty RKBA activist pros. I am deeply grateful to all of them. They know who they are.

Some of these rules have been followed for so long by old-time activists that they have forgotten what the original rules were.

It's time to list them again.

And sneak in a couple of new ones.

So read them and weep, or read them and rejoice.

THE HANDBOOK RULES

NO ONE IS AS INTERESTED AS YOU ARE. Nowadays everyone's attention span and time are limited. Be grateful if you get anyone's attention on our issue, even for a few seconds. Some wannabe activists come in like a lion, then disappear faster than sh*t through a short dog. Take whatever you get from any volunteer. Praise and thank them. Don't be disappointed when they drift away. They will. But some come back. Keep the light on for them.

THE NRA STINKS. So does GOA, SAF, JPFO, and any or all of the rest of the gun rights organizations. At the same time, all of these organizations are the best thing since sliced bread. We won't keep our rights without them. It's normal to love them and hate them at the same time. Be sure your complaints about them go to the person who can do something about your problem. Never give up your membership -- it's much easier to fix things from the inside.

Avoid griping in public -- our opponents love it when we do.
Always handle our dirty laundry behind closed doors. Always.

THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET. There is no single answer, rule, or solution. Never has been, and never will be. None of us will write the single brilliant letter to the editor or internet message that will miraculously turn everything around. Keep steadily busy. Do as much as you can, whenever you can. Anything you do counts, but some things count more than others. Find out what counts. Then do it.

THERE IS NO FINAL VICTORY. Preserving RKBA is an ongoing PROCESS. We are winning and losing battles during this process, but the war will never be over. Becoming active to keep your gun rights is a lot like cleaning your house: it's thankless and boring work, but necessary. Like dirt, the antigun crowd will just keep coming back. Forever. Your activism will keep us winning more than losing. Our opponents count on wearing us down. They love it when one of us (not you, of course) gets discouraged and drops out. When you fully understand and accept the reality that RKBA is a never-ending struggle, you're automatically in the top 5 percent of all RKBA defenders. Congratulations.

RKBA ACTIVISM IS BORING. It's especially boring when you are doing things that really make a difference. Most of us want drama. We want to be entertained. Phone bank calling, precinct walking, going to RKBA grassroots seminars -- suddenly, even a trip to the dentist for a root canal will start to look better. Sorry, but there is no workaround on this aspect. Freedom is not free. It's a pain in the ass. Get used to it, get over it, and get to work.

USE THE POWER OF FEAR AND GUILT. Gun owners are susceptible to these emotions. Awaken sleeping RKBA activists by tapping these powerful emotions. Fear and guilt will move mountains -- and fill the collection plate, and recruit new members. If gun owners won't become active for themselves, ask them to do it for their families. For their children. For their country. And -- this tactic works! -- ask them to do it for YOU.

WATCH OUT FOR MISDIRECTED, TIME-WASTING EFFORTS. E-mail to elected people is pretty much worthless -- unless the official already personally knows you. Internet polls are useless. Online polls make some folks think they are actually doing something. They are not. It's a false sense of accomplishment. It's like bringing a doctor to a dead man. Focus on the stuff that works. If you're going to hunt ducks, go where the ducks are.

POLITICIANS ONLY CARE ABOUT VOTES AND MONEY. In-person visits, phone calls, and snail-mailed, handwritten letters to elected folks help -- because politicians know that if you take this much trouble, you and your family and friends will also vote.

HOT TIP: Make yourself known to politicians for issues other than gun rights. Don't present yourself as a single-issue person. Praise and help politicians on THEIR pet projects. Then, when a new gun control law comes up, your opinion will seem especially credible. Otherwise, you will soon be stereotyped and discounted as a single-issue voter.

ANOTHER HOT TIP: Politicians have to explain why they vote Yes or No on proposed laws. Sometimes they really need your help in composing explanations to their constituents. If you want your elected official to vote No on a seemingly popular new gun control law, she might be more willing to vote your way if you give her a "back door" -- a good, common sense explanation that she can give to all of her constituents.

GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN OFFICE IN THE FIRST PLACE. If we have the right people in power, antigun laws will not be passed. Period. The laws are what matter. This concept is so simple that many folks can't see it, just like they can't "see" the air they breathe. The anti-rights crowd can hold all the gun control seminars and news conferences they want, but nothing will happen unless they can pass more laws. This fact tells you about the how, what, where, when, why, and with whom you should be spending your time, energy, and money. Politicians pass laws. Therefore, you must get involved in politics to protect your gun rights. There is just no way to get around this. Sorry. I don't like politics either. Bummer!

STOP THE SABER RATTLING -- NOW! Avoid those shrill folks who sound threatening or talk about doomsday. It's a waste of your time. These noisy folks remind me of a couple in a failing marriage who only talk about a getting a divorce instead of talking about their real problems. If they don't solve their problems, separation or divorce becomes the inevitable outcome. Some people get pumped up on silly fantasy scenarios. I do not.

ARM YOURSELF WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION. Paradoxically, bad information or disinformation is a plague in the so-called Information Age. When you write or talk about firearms issues, use only the facts, the truth, and the provable. Verify any quotes that you use. Back up your generalizations with powerful and specific examples. Get on the internet, and get your like-minded friends online. Join several of the hundreds of net communities that will keep you informed instantly and completely about our special issues. Information is power!

IGNORE MEDIA SPIN AND THE NEWS WAVES. It's far too easy to go bonkers reacting to the latest media-driven crisis. Don't let the media push your buttons. The RKBA grassroots pros I know do not overreact to crises. In fact, most of the ultra-pros that I know do not react at all to media hysteria. Bashing the media about their bias is not productive. Some gun owners use media bias as an excuse to do nothing -- because the situation seems so overwhelming and hopeless. Truth is, if you are a busy activist -- already steadily doing stuff that matters -- you will find the media reacting to YOU. Be friendly and polite with them -- not hostile. Become a reliable source of information for them. And just keep on being ACTIVE.

JUST SHOW UP. It's been said that 80 percent of success is showing up. Being there. Showing up to vote. Showing up at an RKBA seminar. At your assemblyman's office. At a city council meeting. My father's favorite motto: "Your actions speak so loud that I can't hear a word you're saying." Your "silent" activism can be a model for others. What will your 3 hunting buddies think when they find out you spent an afternoon handing out brochures door-to-door for a pro-gun politician?

DON'T MESS WITH TRUE BELIEVERS. In the time you spend trying to convert one hard core antigun person to our side, you could have gone out and motivated and organized 20 people who already think like you do. Go with the flow. It's easier on your nerves, and much more effective. Personally, I have converted several anti-rights true believers, but never again! Lots of NRA members are not registered voters. A lot of gun owners aren't NRA members. Even more folks have no idea of their elected officials' positions on gun issues. Where is your time most effectively spent? Think about this before you spend an hour writing a clever response to a silly message you found somewhere on the internet.

SIMPLICITY STILL MATTERS. The old rule, Keep It Super Simple (KISS), is as important as it ever was. It applies to internet postings, planning, speeches -- everything. And keep it short. And keep it sweet: don't ever ridicule or insult anyone. Did you notice that I did NOT say, "Keep It Simple, STUPID?"

YOU ARE ALL ALONE. Well, not quite alone. You do have some help. The NRA has a staff of several hundred. There is no way humanly possible that "the NRA" can put out all the brush fires started by the anti-rights crowd. Pro-gun national organizations give direction and information -- but they cannot save your rights. Only YOU can save YOUR rights. You are 100 percent responsible. When you fully accept this reality, you are automatically in the top one percent of all RKBA activists.

THE HIDDEN BONUS OF GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISM. The more involved you get with firearms freedom, the more you will realize that your single issue actually complements and protects other human rights issues. Personally, I am deeply offended by many aspects of today's culture. When I focus my activism on RKBA, I can often sense I am making a measurable difference. All rights -- like all humans -- are connected.

WHEN IN DOUBT, JUST DO SOMETHING. Sometimes we don't know what will work. Sometimes the rule is that there are no rules. I once wrote an essay I thought was mediocre at best. Five years later, I'm still receiving mail about it. Don't hesitate to try something new and innovative -- get it out on the table! Often your finest essay or brilliant letter will not be acknowledged, or you will just get a form letter response. But that letter to the editor that you dashed off in a few minutes appears in tomorrow's newspaper! Go figure. Better yet, try not to figure. Trust yourself, trust your instincts -- and just do something.

I'll see you in the trenches.


Referenced in Resource Library - Advocacy

The Archives of Howard Nemerov

The writings of Howard Nemerov are a treasure trove of material for the pro-firearm enthusiast in the apparently never-ending search to place truth in the path of the Anti-Gun Lobby. The site referenced here contains fifty articles by Howard, from late 2003 to the present. Heavily researched and annotated, Nemerov's perspective provides cogent arguments tightly buttressed with references and data. Over time we will bring these articles forward into our archives individually. For now, please take the opportunity to review this most prolific writer:

Gun Control Works! (Monday, October 09, 2006)
The District of Columbia banned civilian firearms in 1976. In 2005, our nation’s capitol experienced a murder rate of 35.4 per 100,000 population, 6.3 times the national rate, and 7.4 times the average rate of all concealed carry states. The D.C. violent crime rate is 3.1 times the national average and 3.7 times the rate of right-to-carry (RTC) states. Think Gun Control works? Think again . . .

Gun Control: Coalition to Stop What? (Friday, September 15, 2006)
In 2002, the Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence (CSHV) published a report on the alleged merits of gun owner licensing, beginning with an unproven premise--that the public ''strongly supports'' the licensing of handguns . . .

Review this archive in depth and become pro-active for your rights!


Referenced in Resource Library - Analysis

Texas School Tells Classes to Fight Back

Texas School Tells Classes to Fight Back
By JEFF CARLTON
Associated Press Writer
Oct 13, 2:42 PM EDT

BURLESON, Texas (AP) -- Youngsters in a suburban Fort Worth school district are being taught not to sit there like good boys and girls withtheir hands folded if a gunman invades the classroom, but to rush him and hit him with everything they got - books, pencils, legs and arms.

"Getting under desks and praying for rescue from professionals is not a recipe for success," said Robin Browne, a major in the British Army reserve and an instructor for Response Options, the company providing the training to the Burleson schools.

That kind of fight-back advice is all but unheard of among schools, and some fear it will get children killed.

But school officials in Burleson said they are drawing on the lessons learned from a string of disasters such as Columbine in 1999 and the Amish schoolhouse attack in Pennsylvania last week.

The school system in this working-class suburb of about 26,000 is believed to be the first in the nation to train all its teachers and students to fight back, Browne said.
[...]

The rest of the story is here.

Gun Owners Across Canada React to Threats of a Ban on Semi-auto Firearms

Rejuvenated by the Dawson College tragedy, the Coalition for Gun Control, led by Ryerson business professor Wendy Cukier, has been promoting a new assault on law abiding Canadian firearms owners, counselling Dawson College students, amongst others, to get pro-active and spread her particular agenda to strip democratic citizens of their right to own and possess firearms.

There is no question that the Dawson College event was indeed a tragedy. However, like the Ecole Polytechnique shootings, this tragic event has nothing to do with the private ownership of firearms, and in particular, semi-automatic firearms. Like Ecole Polytechnique, Dawson was the work of a suicidal murderous sociopath, who would have used whatever tools he felt would satisfy his particular need. Notwithstanding the hyperbole of the Anti-Gun Lobby, firearms abuse still remains a very small part of the Canadian criminal collective experience.

What is a "semi-automatic" firearm? Simply put, its a means by which a firearm ejects a spent cartridge and reloads another, using some of the energy contained within the cartridge, prior to it being ejected. Its the same action done by a hunter with a bolt-action rifle or pump-action shotgun, only the energy for it is supplied by the gun, not the hand. A semi-automatic firearm is NOT a machine gun, nor, in Canada, are any semi-automatics that can be converted to a machine gun legally available for sale and purchase.

The semi-automatic firearm (the industry term really is "self-loader") is analogous to the difference between a stick-shift and automatic transmission in the family car. It simply reflects a modernization of a technical design for greater convenience in use. There are many popular hunting and sporting firearms that are semi-automatic by design.

Canadian law restricts magazines for semi-automatic rifles (and other types, in the case of hunting laws) to a maximum of five cartridges, just like a typical bolt action hunting rifle. Like everything else in life, manufacturing cost control has promoted the use of synthetics for the manufacture of firearms, just like many other appliances in your home. The traditional attractive walnut-stocked firearm typically associated in the public's mind with "legitimate" sporting firearms, is giving way increasingly to firearms made with synthetic materials in order to keep them affordable. Synthetic stock components also have practical value in the field: they are less easily damaged, and keep their looks longer. Moulding synthetics has also allowed designers to make the firearm more ergonomic, something that is done to everything we use, from forks to furniture.

The downside to the use of synthetic materials for firearms is that it has given the Anti-Gun Lobby a hook to use to try to convince a naive public that firearms made with synthetic components are evil. They're "black", implying they must be military. They're "black" and "semi-automatic", therefore they could only be used for killing people. They further like to append terms like "assault weapon", or "semi-military", to these modern designs.

This, of course, is nonsense. The military uses synthetics too, for the same reasons synthetics are popular with ordinary folk: cost and durability. It should also come as no surprise that ergonomics being what they are, the physical designs of a firearm for the holder would be similar to military firearms as well. A fork is a fork is a fork, whether it be silver plated, or olive drab.

A military assault rifle, by definition, must be a type of machine gun, or fully automatic rifle, and hold many more than the legislated 5 rounds of a civilian firearm. There are no semi-automatic assault firearms. Ordinary Canadian citizens are prohibited from owning a military assault rifle. Yes, certain police departments use firearms commonly available to civilians, for police work. This does not make the firearm a military weapon. Police are not military, and do not conduct policing operations within military assault guidelines, and a conventional firearm, be it "black" or "military-styled", is still a conventional firearm, and like the hunter's and sport shooter's firearms, entirely adequate for its intended use. The most common police long-arm is a "dressed-up" version of the Remington 870 pump action shotgun. It's also the world's most common duck-hunting gun. In black, or camo, or wood.

The "semi-automatic military-styled assault weapon" was a term invented by Josh Sugarman, former director of the Violence Policy Center (a well-known rabid anti-gun organization in the US that would ban all firearms in civilian hands), in order to sway congressional vote in the ill-fated US "assault-weapons ban", a badly flawed bill that focused more on what a firearm looks like rather than how it is used. Congress wisely repealed that law under a sunset clause, but the Anti-Gun Lobby continues to try to use this concocted term to mislead people about the truth about firearms. A semi-automatic cannot be an assault rifle. Canadian citizens are prohibited from owning a military assault rifle.

Canadian firearms owners will not be held responsible for the criminal actions of psychopaths, nor will they tolerate, any longer, being made to bear the brunt of legislation designed to feed the agendas of private individuals, curtail democratic rights, or become the victims of ideologues who would make victims of us all. If you are a legal Canadian firearms owner of any stripe, especially if all you do is hunt, then you MUST go here and do your part. Don't wait, do it today. Your continued firearms ownership depends on it.