Gun Control Debate: Shocking New Poll Finds Majority Support Handgun Ownership

In a recent online poll the vast majority of respondents wanted handguns to be legal. Nothing surprising, as it was probably overwhelmed by Second Amendment and Tea Party types with vast email trees to “pump” the vote right?

Except this wasn’t an online poll in the U.S. or even hosted by a U.S. news site. This poll was conducted byUK newspaper site the Daily Telegraph. At the time of The Commentator story, a clear majority of respondents wanted to overturn the handgun ban.

“While the poll continues, so far over 80% of the 11,000+ respondents have told the Telegraph that they want to see the handgun ban repealed. The news comes as America contemplates its own new laws on gun ownership, with British talk show host Piers Morgan claiming to back a UK-style ban for the United States.”

The poll was taken in the wake of the brutal public beheading of a British soldier.  And the fact that it took a full 20 minutes for the police to show up might have converted some previous skeptics to end the ban. MSN news reported it wasn’t just the public who were worried but MPs as well.

“Armed officers reportedly took 20 minutes to arrive at the scene of the incident, prompting one MP to express concerns – although another defended the response time by armed police.Robert Buckland, a Conservative member of the Commons’ justice select committee, was quoted by The Telegraph website as suggesting it would be 'very worrying' if it had taken 20 minutes for the armed police to arrive.”

The British ban on handguns came about as a kneejerk reaction by politicians to the Dunblane massacre in 1996. In this attack, a mentally unstable man who had acquired guns illegally had shot up a school killing children and their teacher.

As with many things in the UK, you can rest assured the urban elites that run the political parties will wantonly ignore this poll any other that calls for handguns to be legalized.

Despite the fact that violent crime has shot up since 1997 and that the U.S. is far less violent than the UK per capita; politicians will continue to leave their constituents vulnerable to attack from common criminals and islamists in equal measure. In 2009 a Daily Mail article laid out the alarming statistics:

“Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.”

It seems British newspaper readers understand far more about the link between handgun ownership and lower crimes ran than does British CNN host Piers Morgan. He recently whined about getting death threats from gun enthusiasts to the Daily Mirror.