5 Things You Should Know About Policing In America

Police Are More Supportive of Gun Rights than the Public

An odd twist in the outlook of police is their support for gun rights. In contrast to media narrative, officers don’t support most gun control schemes. Seventy-four percent say protecting gun rights is more important than controlling gun ownership. In contrast, only fifty-three percent of the public believes this (Page 85).

When looking at specific measures, police are slightly more likely to favor restrictions against the mentally-ill owning guns. Police favor closing the ‘gun show loophole’ at approximately the same rate as the public. Major rifts between police and the public arise in regards to tracking gun sales and a new ‘assault weapon’ ban (Page 86). These statistics probably should not be surprising given police officers are generally considered to lean conservative.