The Brady Campaign & Gallup Poll

Once again Paul Helmke of the Brady Campaign is spouting more of the untruth that has made his organization and their reputation infamous.

“Not only is the information old, but the main question asked and highlighted is not reflective of current efforts by activists around the country to reduce gun violence.”

But let’s read then opening paragraph from the poll for ourselves and see what it says:

“In Gallup polling conducted prior to last week's gun massacre at an immigrant center in Binghamton, N.Y., only 29% of Americans said the possession of handguns by private citizens should be banned in the United States.”

Maybe Paul is just having a bad English day? Well perhaps not, because he continues to whine by saying:

“This polling information was collected last October, which Gallup does mention in its third paragraph. Yet it certainly begs the question: Why publish a statement based on data that is almost six months old, in the wake of a string of mass shootings committed over the past month?”

Ok, so let us go back to the Gallup Poll and see if we, the average citizen, can discover the truth for him.

“The latest figures come from the most recent installment of Gallup's annual Crime survey, conducted Oct. 3-5, 2008. It is unclear what impact, if any, the recent Binghamton incident may have on Americans' views of gun control.”

I wonder if I need to explain the word “annual” to him? How about the fact that Gallup admitted not knowing the impact on this poll given recent events?  Details, details.

Nope, because he continues and if you read my earlier article “The Statist & Gun Control” he continues to prove my point by saying:

“The pressures of getting into the news cycle are powerful, but the important question is what Americans believe about gun violence prevention policy today.”

As usual lacks Paul tries to twist the argument onto his home court by getting you, the average citizens, to think that gun violence (arrest those Guns!) and prevention are possible and that these so called "policies" actually work.

Even worse, he continues to bury himself in his own words:

“Repeating the same irrelevant polling results six months later in the wake of police officers being murdered with AK-47s is mystifying, and it is a distraction from public attitudes toward the mainstream of gun control policy today.”

No mystery here, right? The last time this annual Gallup Poll was taken was, yep October 2008.

Almost last, but not least, the cream-de-la-crème of intellectual honesty, a poll conducted by the Brady Campaign where he claims:

“It seems that public support for gun control laws is as high as it ever was.”

Finally, this gem buried at the bottom of the page, after complaining about Gallup supposedly hiding the fact that their poll was conducted in October.

“UPDATE: Gallup has changed the title of its release to "Before Recent Shootings, Gun-Control Support Was Fading," though the release URL indicates the earlier version.”

Maybe it’s time for Paul to retire and find a job he’s more suited for? Would anyone like to propose some suggestions?