BELLEVUE, WA – A new Rasmussen poll released Monday shows that a majority of Americans are unconcerned about being in the company of armed private citizens, which comes at a time when applications for concealed carry permits and licenses are rising, possibly as a result of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the Second Amendment Foundation said.
According to Rasmussen, 57 percent of Americans “remain unconcerned about their safety around those who have legal permits to carry concealed weapons, with 37% who are Not At All Concerned.” Rasmussen also reported that “Forty percent believe the presence of more Americans with concealed carry gun permits will decrease the number of people killed in violent incidents in America.”
“In the wake of terrorist attacks in France and California,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “more people are realizing that it could be the armed private citizen that provides the first line of defense until police arrive, and that could take several minutes. As Washington, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier recently advised in a CBS interview, ‘If you’re in a position to try to take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there’.”
The Rasmussen report also revealed that middle-aged adults “have the most confidence in those with concealed carry gun permits” and that “fifty-nine percent of Republicans believe the presence of more Americans with concealed carry gun permits will decrease the number of people killed in violent incidents, but just 25 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of unaffiliateds agree.”
“This suggests that Democrats and liberals still don’t get it about self-defense,” Gottlieb observed. “Maybe they’re more comfortable reading about defenseless people being murdered en masse, rather than having the tools to fight back, provided they’re not the victims.
“San Bernardino has changed the dynamic, and it should seriously change the dialogue about firearms, self-defense and the right to carry,” he concluded. “We’ve entered a new era, and waiting for the police to arrive and save us is no longer a viable option.”