This one had to be a doozy so I checked it out:. It seems that some people get angry at the sight of guns. Mind you, not the ones carrying the gun or owning them but unarmed people.
The weapons effect occurs outside of the lab too. In one field experiment,[2] a confederate driving a pickup truck purposely remained stalled at a traffic light for 12 seconds to see whether the motorists trapped behind him would honk their horns (the measure of aggression). The truck contained either a .303-calibre military rifle in a gun rack mounted to the rear window, or no rifle. The results showed that motorists were more likely to honk their horns if the confederate was driving a truck with a gun visible in the rear window than if the confederate was driving the same truck but with no gun. What is amazing about this study is that you would have to be pretty stupid to honk your horn at a driver with a military rifle in his truck—if you were thinking, that is! But people were not thinking—they just naturally honked their horns after seeing the gun. The mere presence of a weapon automatically triggered aggression. …
…Weapons can even make people aggressive when they cannot “see” them because they are presented subliminally. In a study conducted in our lab[4], for example, participants who were exposed to weapon words (e.g., gun) for only 17/100 second were more aggressive afterwards than were participants exposed to nonaggressive words (e.g., water).The “weapons effect”
I know that most normal people including gun owners do not become virulent idiots ate the sight or just mention of guns. Normal non-gunnies will respect them and we will see them as our tools for self-defense,, fun, hunting, etc but never a threat.
But there is one group of individual that totally lose their blessed minds when a gun even if the abstract concept of guns is present within a 5 mile radius. They start shaking, blood pressure rises, vein in the neck & forehead pop, speech becomes foul & belligerent to the point of issuing threats of bodily harm (foaming at the mouth sometimes is present.) You know them, I know them.
Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have concrete scientific evidence that Gun Control advocates are Mentally Unstable. A great milestone has been reached.
Now about that NICS and No-Fly lists that were mentioned in regard keeping dangerous people away from guns and planes and good law-abiding citizens….
Confederate…? Confederate… sheesh. The bias in that study is plainly writ. They don’t even bother to try and be subtle any more. Blatant bias is blatant. I’d like to say more but… Confederate? really…
[…] Go read this article… […]
Couple questions the authors will be unable (unwilling?) to answer:
– What was the appearance of the pickup? “General Lee” orange with a Confederate flag (which is what comes to mind)? If so, it’s more likely the honkers are honking at the st00pid redneck, not the gun.
– Is it possible (not likely, merely possible) that “normal” people subconsciously understand that gun owners – especially those who openly display/carry a firearm – are MORE law-abiding than the general population, and therefore feel SAFER honking at said gun-totin’ pickup?
– Also, horn honking is not a “measure of aggression.” It’s an attention-getting measure. Did the authors account for this, or did they also count shouted racial/social epithets, derogatory comments on the driver’s family line, shaken fists, and/or one-finger salutes?
I’ll be eagerly waiting for the follow-up article to answer these additional questions.
*crickets*
So you mean to tell me when someone is not moving at a green light you don’t get a little aggressive and honk in the slightest bit of anger? I doubt highly doubt that. Also you talk about shouted racial comments and social epithets… what about the fact that as soon as you said “redneck” the word stupid was before it. How is it that because they are “redneck” you perceive them as “stupid”?
But if you could even comprehend what the article was talking about then you would understand the difference in pro gun and anti gun. The fact that only anti gun activists get ugly and irate about the mention or view of guns. The pro gun activist, well as you can tell by what ypu wrote. Anti gun activists just try to use illogical conversation to dilute the bigger picture. So my final question would be… if the story was about a car with a black family in it would you have used such bias and discriminatory wording in your text. Or did you just feel safer talking negatively about a “redneck”? Because in the word “redneck” was never used in the article. So would you have used other racial slurs or social epithets? I mean nobody ever said the person in the truck was white. Article and your comment together just proves that the mention of guns to an anti gun activist does make you a little bit crazy.
I will be eagerly awaiting any follow up comments you may have to try and defend your illogical oppinions.
*CRICKETS*
Wow…that sounds really bad. The NRA Annual Meeting ought to be a bloodbath. [sarc]