"The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger."

[Robb]

The "Weapons Effect"

Research shows that the mere presence of weapons increases aggression.

In 1967, Leonard Berkowitz and Anthony LePage conducted a fascinating study.

First, participants were angered by a person pretending to be another participant (called a confederate). Next, participants were seated at a table that had a shotgun and a revolver on it—or, in the control condition, badminton racquets and shuttlecocks. The items on the table were described as part of another experiment that the researcher had supposedly forgotten to put away.

The participant was supposed to decide what level of electric shock to deliver to the confederate who had angered them, and the electric shocks were used to measure aggression. The experimenter told participants to ignore the items on the table, but apparently they could not. Participants who saw the guns were more aggressive than were participants who saw the sports items. This effect was dubbed the "weapons effect."...

Read More: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201301/the-weapons-effect

[theKed]

1. Shhhhh!

Guns don't kill people, don't you know?