Knight releases portion of survey data
Congressman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, released a portion of the data gathered as part of a gun-violence survey he performed through his congressional website, but has chosen not to release the full data, his office said Thursday.
The six-question survey asks people’s thoughts on gun issues facing the country, as well as some ways the issues can be solved. The full question list can be seen at the bottom of the story.
Only data from the last question was revealed in conjunction with a private law enforcement roundtable Knight held Thursday in Santa Clarita. The information Knight shared from respondents noted 65 percent “supported better enforcement of existing laws” and that 75 percent of respondents desired “more community engagement to report suspected individuals and inform appropriate parties.”
About 2,600 voluntary respondents commented on a variety of issues related to gun violence and safety, according to the press release in which the chosen data was released. The survey was released after Knight spoke privately to local law enforcement about school safety.
When asked why only some of the data was released, a representative for Knight issued the following statement:
“The survey was a voluntary survey conducted unscientifically and without parameters for number of times each person responded and with no controls for geography, demographics and other important standards for a public poll. The survey was more to gauge general interest in the issue. Publishing the data would be misleading as many people would view it as a poll conducted by professional pollsters, when it is not.”
As to why they chose to release the data they did, the statement given was: “Because those topics were specifically related to the topics of the round table, as the conversation was mostly about law enforcement and community engagement.”