When was this poll taken?
Years ago, or within the last few years?
this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
118 points (96.1% liked)
science
27233 readers
880 users here now
A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.
dart board;; science bs
rule #1: be kind
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
If I ever get mad enough at someone to picture killing them it's usually a blunt force weapon, so I get the low value on shooting here.
That's way lower than expected and I suspect it is just because they didn't want to be on record.
Yep, what a load of bollocks, the only thing this study is useful for is why would you do this.
I don't know how you could be older than 12 and not wanted to shoot someone ever.
I can honestly say I've never wanted to shoot, stab, or otherwise graciously injure someone. I've gotten into some fistfights when emotions have gotten out of hand, but this is maybe why its important that everyone is not running around with a way to blast holes in people.
Hand me a loaded gun and put me in a room with Putin, and i'll not even blink when i shoot him.
Good point
Have you like seen any movies played any video games like what?
Only 7%? Yeah there are a lot of people 100% lying.
I'd say 93% are lying.
Mm, you can fixate on killing someone without using a gun.
You could use a knife, a rope, poison, there are any number of things you can use to kill someone.
Maybe that 93% just very specifically envisions harming others without guns!
Lol no, many of them are lying.
Woodchipper, car bomb, garbage compactor, fire, a single large rock, multiple smaller rocks, open windows, closed windows and some force... The list goes on and on
Update:
- drum of boiling water
- large cat exhibit at the zoo
- thrown from a highway bridge
- snake pit
- drowning in a cesspool
- explosive butt plug
- fire ant
- flying with Tom Hanks in a movie
A bit exotic perhaps, but strapped to a rocket and hurled at a building.
Only 7%? 🤔
That's how many are willing to admit it to a pollster, which is a subset of who thought about it. We don't know how big the larger set is.
Which is a subset who would talk to a pollster in the first place
Yes there is also the subset of people who've thought about it, and might tell a pollster, but avoid pollsters if at all possible.
The other 93% have shot someone.
Without thinking about it first, it seems.
The text of the question seems to be "I have thought about shooting another person or multiple people" and 7% responded "Strongly agree/agree/somewhat agree." Looking at the 160 page pdf questionnaire, I'm guessing most respondents deduced the correct answer and didn't want to cast aspersions on any of their other habits.
I've thought about all sorts of horrible things I'd never even contemplate actually doing. I'm sure I'm not alone.
Call of the void
Oh, thank goodness :)
Absolutely, there’s a huge difference between thinking about doing something and then letting the thought go compared to doing anything on the path to actually doing it.
I often used to have intrusive violent or sexual thoughts about strangers I'd see out in the world. They were unwanted and I found them horrifying, and of course would never do anything like that to anyone. Medication eventually helped.
That sounds a bit scary, glad you found some relief. Yeah the key thing is self control and of course recognizing they are bad in the first place. Mine are fairly random, like my brain just likes to remind me what horrors the human mind is capable of for some reason.
As an anti-gun anti-american pacific redneck, I have also thought about shooting people, at least once per week. There's only 3 people alive I would actually ever shoot though, given the chance.
lol I immediately thought of this:
I would not actually shoot anyone but I have certinaly thought about it. Maybe more murder in general. Its called getting very mad at people doing very bad things. I think 93% are either lying or their imaginations are more hands on or maybe less.
load more comments
(2 replies)
If America didn't have such a fetish for guns it would be %7 of people thought about stabbing someone or something
Knives banned: "7% of people in the US have considered forking someone else".
Fork you!
load more comments
(1 replies)
Thinking about it is normal, not doing it is being civilized.
And 93% of adults are liars.
To be fair, there is someone who 100% deserves to be shot
If you've never thought about shooting someone, then on what basis can you even say that shooting someone is wrong?
just one?
call me when you find out how many have lists.
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?
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.
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.
Only 7% makes me think people are interpreting the question as "would you admit on the phone to seriously considering shooting another person".
load more comments
(1 replies)
This js just invalid data.
How many think about shooting themselves? 🤔
Depends on whether or not they consider themselves people
I was in this statistic and I didn't like it. 😥
Hell I don't think an hour goes by that I don't think of shooting someone
Only 7% on any given day, right?
view more: next ›