Police Attitudes about Citizens with Handgun Carry Permits

The purpose of this research was to study the attitudes of police officers about handgun carry permit holders. Police officers from local police departments in Tennessee and Virginia were surveyed with a 30-question questionnaire. The questionnaire used the independent variables of sex (gender), age, marital status, and education to study officers’ opinions on the subject of handgun carry permit holders. The survey items asked police officers their attitudes about issues including carry permits in certain situations, training of the permit holder, and federal law. The research found that a majority of officers support handgun carry permit holders and that officers are not threatened by handgun carry permit holders