December 31st, 2007
Got an email letting me know about a USA Today Quick Question online survey about the Second Amendment. The question:
Does the Second Amendment give individuals the right to bear arms?
I don’t generally think much about this sort of survey, as it turns into a matter of one side trying to get everyone to click over and the other side doing the same. The result usually isn’t terribly meaningful.
In this case, 97% of over 185,000 voters currently chose “YES”. Now, it’s possible that 97% of Americans truly do believe that the 2nd Amendment is about individual rights, but I find that difficult to believe. It’s more likely that the only effort to get word out about the poll has been by pro-gun types. At this point, even if any anti-gun types thought about trying to mobilize online clickers, they’d likely look at the current results and not even bother.
And I sure don’t expect to see the USA Today to run a story that even mentions, let alone gives any credence to, a survey of theirs that shows 97% support for the idea that the 2A is about individual rights.
I don’t mean to dissuade anyone from clicking over and voting. Not at all. In fact, I voted myself since I was already there. I’m just not expecting it to mean much of anything.
Finally, the wording of the poll is a bit odd. The Bill of Rights is more about spelling out inalienable rights that are protected by the government, not about “giving” anyone any rights. The idea is that the rights have already been given to everyone, they’re “inalienable,” after all, and the Bill of Rights lists them to prevent the government from encroaching upon them or limiting them.
