In light of our ongoing analysis of liberal media coverage of the District of Columbia v. Heller gun ban case, yesterday NewsBusters Senior Editor Rich Noyes brought to my attention a 2005 survey of journalists that found some 31 percent found the right to keep and bear arms unnecessary and non-essential to their personal liberty.
That study's findings don't appear to remain archived online, but Noyes happened to have saved a print copy. Below the fold you can find the responses to the relevant question from a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll of journalists. The very same poll found that 68 percent of respondents voted for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) and that self-described conservatives numbered only seven percent of those polled.
On the gun question, 31 percent of respondents thought that the 2nd Amendment's guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms was "not necessary." It was the highest "not necessary" rating for any constitutionally-protected right listed in the survey.
Poll respondents were asked: "The U.S. Constitution protects certain rigthts, but not everyone considers each right important. I am going to read you some rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. For each, please tell me how important it is that you have that right: is it essential that you have this right, important but not essential, or not important..."
Special thanks to NewsBuster Paul Detrick for scanning the image above.
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Whats worse is that only 25% thought it was essential.
March 18, 2008 - 17:18 ET by c5thenThe fact that it was included in the "Bill of Rights" as the 2nd amendment, just after Free Speech, Freedom of Religion and Freedom to assemble and petition the government, and Freedom of the Press would tell you how important the founders thought it was.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Very
March 18, 2008 - 17:23 ET by pagarHard to imagine very many present day leftist journalists being willing to defend themselves or America.
31%, huh?
March 18, 2008 - 17:40 ET by thoridflyWell ...
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
Dumb and Dumber
March 18, 2008 - 17:57 ET by CobraManIn a related survey, 85 percent of gun holders think that those journalists are a bunch of idiots. I agree with that assessment.
Check yer numbers!
March 18, 2008 - 18:42 ET by UndercoverConservativeI find the figure of 85% to be a bit low :)
"to call an illegal immigrant an "undocumented alien" is the same as calling a streetcorner drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist".
Over educated, Under smart
March 18, 2008 - 21:51 ET by jefflebowskiThese little socialist turds have spent their lifetimes in universities studying theories of their socialist turd professors. I´ve always said that they are over-educated and under-smart. Theory don´t cut it in the real world with homies breaking in your house trying to kill your family! Yeah, Reverends Al and Jesse and Balack Osama....I said HOMIES!
I quit listening or reading the MSM idiots years ago. The reason? They are idiots!
No 2nd Amendment: No Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness
March 18, 2008 - 18:03 ET by thoridflyThe #1 thing that ended the Dark Ages was GUNPOWDER.
No nation can exist in freedom without a well-armed citizenry.
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
"The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals." - President James Monroe, 1818
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined or determined to commit crimes." - Unknown
"They [laws that deny our 2nd Amendment right] serve to encourage rather than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."- Thomas Jefferson
"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them." - George Mason
No Gun Ownership : No Freedom
March 18, 2008 - 18:40 ET by thoridfly"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty, teeth, and keystone … " - George Washington
"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it without ... an enslaved press and a disarmed populace." - James Madison, The Federalist Papers (No. 46)
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie [the middle class]." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State." - Heinrich Himmler
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. So let's not have any native militia or police." - Adolph Hitler, Edict of March 18, 1938
»→ Keep and bear arms
March 18, 2008 - 18:52 ET by Cool ArrowWhat has never been addressed is the fact that "keep" (keep and bear arms) is continuous tense. It does not fluctuate at the whim of the government.
♣ a seal
history?
March 18, 2008 - 18:29 ET by LorraineDo journalist schools not teach American History anymore? Anyone who reads about the American Revolution and the events that led up to it will understand why it's the 2nd Ammendment and that the founders meant the Bill of Rights, and every right in it, to apply to individuals.
Without #2, there is no #1 and no United States of America.
Frankly, I'm surprised it
March 18, 2008 - 18:32 ET by ckc1227Frankly, I'm surprised it is only 31%. I would have expected it to ba closer to 50/50.
No Gun Ownership : No Freedom
March 18, 2008 - 18:43 ET by thoridfly"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty, teeth, and keystone … " - George Washington
"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it without ... an enslaved press and a disarmed populace." - James Madison, The Federalist Papers (No. 46)
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie [the middle class]." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State." - Heinrich Himmler
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. So let's not have any native militia or police." - Adolph Hitler, Edict of March 18, 1938
Without the 2nd Amendment
March 18, 2008 - 19:44 ET by CooltomWithout the 2nd Amendment citizens would have soon lost the rights in the 1st Amendment.
As for the 2nd Amendment being a collective rather than an individual right:
1) Amendments 1-8 dealt with individual liberties -- why would the 2nd be an exception?
2) Governments have few restrictions on what weapons it can possess or use -- so why would there be a need to codify such a right?
Frankly, liberals interpret "militia" as being an organized force maintained by the government (e.g. the National Guard) when in actuality I believe the framers had the belief the term referred to voluntary citizen groups (e.g. a Volunteer Fire Department) manned by common citizens.
Surprising?
March 18, 2008 - 19:46 ET by planetrepublicanThe 31% surprises me. The MSM media types are liberal and liberals are idiots but I would think more like 97% of them would think the 2nd amendment is not important.
I'm curious about how they
March 18, 2008 - 22:55 ET by Mean Gene Dr. LoveI'm curious about how they answered when asked about their 1st Amendment rights. Essential = 100%? Of course, it's their bread and butter, it's the source of their income...it's job security, why wouldn't it be essential to them? But these are the same people that can't wait to write an exposé on the failings of 911 and why the cops couldn't get there in time to save a someone that put their personal security in the hands of the government.
"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." --Robert A. Heinlein, "Beyond This Horizon", 1942
"Essential = 100%? Of
March 19, 2008 - 09:00 ET by NL207"Essential = 100%? Of course"
You are wrong about this. These journalists are mostly leftists of various stripes. They could give a whit about the 1st Amendment. They are more than happy to abrogate the right of free speech as it applies to their philosophical opponents. However, they will take great umbrage if anyone tries to apply the same concept to them! They are hypocrites if nothing else.
Test of truth: How many of these "journalists" in the Jurassic Media support the "Fairness Doctrine"?