TexasCHLforum.com

frankie_the_yankee wrote:So I suspect that, in the words of Lincoln, this poll will be "little noted nor long remembered."

One has to hope that the poll will not be as "little noted nor long remembered" as the occasion Lincoln wrote those words for.

The invalid question, entertainment value notwithstanding, still results in meaningless answers, whether or not the answers are supposedly going our way. My point was, that it doesn't take a lot of spin to make the results appear any way the polsters want them to, including the very unlikely "Overwhelming support for CHL carry at the State Fair."

frankie_the_yankee wrote:I fully agree with the above observations as to the wording of the poll question. But given the overwhelming response in our favor, why quibble over technicalities?

First of all, it's hardly a technicality, the wording of the question will most probably be used to drive and derive the news article announcing the results, ie:

NORTH TEXANS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT CANCELLATION OF CHL LAW (which might actually be true, if only in favor of Vermont Style Carry)

or:

NORTH TEXANS UNCONCERNED ABOUT RAMPANT WEAPONS POSSESSION AT STATE FAIR (which is probably not true)

Fox4's refusal to correct the obviously poor wording of the poll sounds to me like there is an agenda, particularly the response that people might not have known the law existed. Remember that they made a big deal, in their news article, about people being able to carry THIS year, and failed to mention that it has been the law since 2003.

I just can't really see the results as either valid, due to the number of people, if just on this forum, who have hit the site multiple times, or supportive of "our" POV due to the poor wording.

I wrote to Fox News about their deviously worded question:

Your poll on carrying firearms in the State Fair is either horribly
worded or designed with some devious purpose.

You leave those of us in favor of CHLs carrying in
places where carry is legal according to state law with
no option to except to vote to allow carry even without
a CHL.

While it would be illegal for someone without a CHL to
carry in the State Fair, it is perfectly legal for CHL
holders, but the ambiguous wording give the impression
that those of us in favor of CHL carry favor non-CHL
carry also.

Their reply was:

Thanks for your input! There was a mistake with the
wording of the poll, but it's since been fixed. I
assure you there was no devious purpose, it was a
simple mistake.

And I then replied that their fix was worse than the original:

Actually, this "fixed" wording is what I, and many
others, consider devious.

Should people be restricted from carrying guns at the State Fair, even
with a concealed handgun license?

Once again, the wording leaves no choice between voting to deny CHL
holders the right to carry in a place where it is
lawful for them to carry, by answering yes, or voting
to allow even non-CHL holders to carry, by voting no.

If that is not devious wording, please explain how
you feel that it is not.

Couldn't you have worded
it in a way that did not imply disenfranchisement of a
significant segment of Texas' population? It has been
legal for CHLs to carry in the State Fair since 2003,
but all of a sudden Fox 4 makes a big deal of it now?
That makes the wording, both before and after the
supposed fix, even more suspect.

Maybe it's time for channel 11 to investigate you.

Their reply:

Thank you for your input.
The poll is meant merely to gauge opinions of our
viewers, a number of whom were not aware of the current
law.

And my latest reply:

If your poll was worded honestly, it would do a better job.

I don't like the "Even with a CHL" clause, it places those of us in favor of CHLs carrying in the position of having to vote for ANYONE carrying.