Avvo study reveals Southerners least likely to believe police can keep them safe

Avvo

A study conducted by Avvo to determine public attitudes around national personal safety indicates only 26% of people living in the South believe police can effectively keep them safe. Meanwhile, Southerners are also more likely to believe they can effectively protect themselves with a firearm.

Avvo designed their survey to better understand Americans’ opinions on beliefs surrounding personal safety, gun ownership and the justice system. The study found strong indications that, among Southerners, a more self-reliant culture exists for personal safety than in other populations around the country, an attitude that seems to correlate with less enthusiasm for gun control.

Overall, Southerners support legal gun ownership at higher or average rates than the rest of the country, with 60% of Southerners believing that handguns should be legal, and 26% saying that openly carrying a gun in public should be allowed.

Further, nearly half (45%) of Southerners say if they had a gun and were in danger they could effectively defend themselves, and are more likely than any other region to support arming teachers, school officials and security guards in public schools.

Avvo conducts periodic studies to try and better understand the dynamics facing individuals engaging with attorneys and the legal system. These are findings from a poll conducted in late August and early September 2015. Read more about the study, and get more regional detail below: