Thoughts precipitate deeds. Even when people say they weren't thinking, what they generally mean is that the thought impulse that triggered their action happened very quickly.
But thoughts don't always turn into actions. People think about a lot of things they never do, from the mundane to the profane. Some think about going to the gym while others think about throttling that guy in the staff meeting who won't shut up, so everyone can get back to work.
So long as no one acts on that second thought, all is well. Yeah, you should probably go to the gym, but that's your thing, and you're not hurting anyone but yourself, which is your prerogative.
The problem we have today, though, is that there's a study that found an alarming number of people think about shooting someone else.
Everyone has fleeting moments of anger, but a chilling new study reveals that for millions of Americans, those impulses involve a specific mental image: Pulling a trigger.
While most never act on these thoughts, researchers are identifying the thin line between imagining pulling the trigger and a deadly reality — and how to stop someone from crossing it.
The study — led by the University of Michigan and published recently in a research letter in JAMA Network Open — surveyed more than 7,000 adults. It found that over a lifetime, 7% of Americans (about 19.4 million people) have thought about shooting someone.
Even more concerning, 3% reported having such thoughts within the last year. That’s 8.7 million adults.
The data shows that these thoughts aren't limited to gun-owners. In fact, there was no significant difference in the frequency of these thoughts between those who own firearms and those who don’t.
But access could change the stakes: 8% of those who considered shooting someone actually took a gun to a specific location with an eye to using it.
Now, honestly, that last one is the only part of this that's particularly alarming. That's a little over 1.5 million people, and that's...troubling, if it's true.
The problem is that this is a survey, and that means how people view the questions dictates how they respond. For example, have you ever taken a gun with you when you had to go somewhere that you thought might involve a confrontation that could turn violent? While going, did you ponder having to shoot a particular person? If so, you might well have answered that question in that manner.
Others, of course, were talking about potentially carrying out premeditated murder.
As for the rest, well, I honestly don't think anyone has any reason to worry. First, a survey of 7,000 people isn't a tiny sample size, necessarily, but if they somehow got a population more inclined to consider violence an option than in other parts of even the same communities, that will skew the results.
Further, thoughts are not deeds. While thoughts might turn into them, having a random thought pop into your mind isn't the same as having homicidal ideations, really. Especially if you recognize that doing something like that is a horrible thing and, you know, you shouldn't do it.
One way you know that's the case is that the study also found that actual access to guns didn't change the percentages significantly. If thoughts were inherently to lead to deeds, not only would the homicide rate last year not have been as low as it was, but the spike in 2020 would have been way too low a total for this.
In short, this looks like a good way to make people afraid of their fellow Americans, despite the fact that even the more alarming of this data is still doesn't translate into people committing a violent crime.
Yeah, I'd much prefer people not thinking about killing one another, but just like throttling the talker in the meeting you can't wait to get out of, there's nothing to worry about unless you act on that threat.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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