this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
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[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 13 points 20 hours ago (4 children)

When I was doing my firearms training, one of the first things they had us do was think about shooting someone else… and then they taught us how to avoid doing so.

Does that mean only 7% of American adults have had decent firearms training?

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago

Based on how the question is phrased, it can be very open to interpretation.

I've thought all kinds of sick thoughts along the lines of "I could push this person in front of the arriving metro", or "I'm holding a kitchen knife, if I were to stab the other person in the kitchen there's nothing they could do about it". When I was in the army, and we were at the shooting range, I could get thoughts about how easy it would be to shoot a whole load of people. Of course, I never consider doing those things. I'm talking about people I would lay down my life to protect, and I still get these thoughts.

I was very relieved when I read somewhere that this is fairly normal, and some researchers ascribed it to a protection mechanism: Their theory (which they provided some evidence for), was that be evoking these thoughts, your brain makes you more aware of acute potential dangers, so that you can act more carefully to avoid them. Basically, by becoming conscious that you could push/stab/shoot someone, you handle your movement/knife/firearm more carefully to avoid doing so by accident.

So: Have I thought about shooting someone? Plenty of times. Have I considered shooting someone? Never.

[–] Angryhumanoid@fedinsfw.app 7 points 20 hours ago

That is an interesting thought exercise, I've gone through a few different firearm trainings through the years and never gone through that exercise.

But to speak to the original topic.... Yeah I've definitely had that thought. Never seriously, but ya know, intrusive thoughts and all that.

[–] stankmut@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

Only 7% makes me think people are interpreting the question as "would you admit on the phone to seriously considering shooting another person".

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I suspect that few people have actually gone through that.