What is the psychology of anti-gun people?

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iliketoshootguns

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What do you think is the psychology of anti-gun people. For instance, what is going through the mind of San Francisco lefties when they try to impose a citywide ban on legal gun ownership, while at the same time pushing for softer crime enforcement. It is almost as if every thing they believe in is the opposite of logic and reason.

I was doing some research on political ideologies, personality types, and their psychological primers, and I found that modern day radical leftism is closely tied to masochism (deriving pleasure in self punishment, willingness to subject oneself to trying experiences) and low self esteem. This is not a blanket statment as there are many grey areas, libertarians, progun leftists, etc.. but is just a general observation.

I am curious as to how these antis become masochists? Is it childhood upbringing, mental illness, pure ignorance? What is your opinion?
 
I'm not much into psychology, but I always assumed it's because guns are a concrete physical object they can go after, rather than saying there's a greater problem with society and the attitudes/standards/morals/whatever of many people. I also don't think this is a "liberal" attitude either. It just manifests itself differently depending on one's world views.
 
JPFO

Had a good article about this subject called "Raging against self defense"
Having lived in SF I find the anti's to be generally more violent then most
gunnies, the "secret" reason is they know that they would fly off
the handle and kill because of a minor traffic incident.
The person most likely to give you the finger in traffic is the liberal
anti gun person.....Also, yes, they're quite stupid too.

I tried to explain to a college student that despite the mike moore propaganda
that the NRA & KKK are not the same org, but he didn't know the Confederacy from the Union!

I asked a college student from Richmond, Virgingia if they knew the diffference
between the Confederacy and the Union...nope!

But she knew that "guns kill people":banghead:
 
I've done a lot of thinking on this subject and I think that when it comes to anti-gun people there are several different brands.

The first kind are the ignorant anti's who, like most people, go about their life with blinders on and if they don't have an interest in something they don't bother to educate themselves. These are the people that will catch a news story once in a while and fall hook, line and sinker about how guns are more likely to be taken from you and used against you in an attack, or that you're more likely to shoot a family member than an intruder etc. Some of these people MAY be able to be converted if they have an open mind and are shown the truth.

The second kind of anti is the person that, for whatever reason, feels they are not competant to hande a firearm in self defense. They then transfer those feelings of incompetancy to others because, obviously in their mind, if they can't do something than no one else could possibly be able to either. This is also related to ignorance where people don't understand that not everyone thinks, acts, and has the same abilities as they do.

The third type of anti is the one that feels THEY are perfectly able to be trusted with a firearm and could use one successfully and safely, however, they think the rest of the peons around them are all bumbling idiots and cannot be trusted to do the same. Ergo Diane Feinstein who has a CCW permit but will not support anyone else's right to do the same and has never met a piece of gun control she didn't like. These are the hardcore leftists that feel they know what is best for everyone else, and if we don't want to listen to them, well by God they'll make us listen....for our own good of course.

The fourth type of anti is the totally irrational person who, again for whatever reason, has a strange phobia of inanimate objects. These are the people that I find particularly frustrating as no matter how much you prove them wrong they just won't see it. They feel that the gun is dangerous irregardless of the person who uses it. These are the people you hear about trembling in fear from the simple sight of a firearm such as other people get dizzy and scared when looking off of a high cliff. These people can sometimes overcome their phobias IF they actively wish to and work towards it.
 
I'd add the following to DblOKevin's list:

There are those that are innocently ignorant and can be taught.

There are those who know that their self control is limited and who have stated that they would use a firearm in a fit of rage, thus, you should not own one as well.

There are those who's lives have been horribly and negatively affected by firearms used against either themselves or a loved one, thus ALL guns should be banned.

There are those in power (and criminal types as well) who know that they might be used against them due to human nature, as Mao so aptly put it, "All power flows from the barrel of a gun".

There are those who live their lives in fear and only depend on others to protect them.
 
Another type is the ultimate pacifist.

I worked with one of these a few years ago. She said she would rather die than take the life of another person; even if that person were about to murder both herself and her husband. :scrutiny:

She had no fear of guns or other weapons per se, just the use of them in violent actions.
 
In my experience a lot of anti-gunners live in a fantasy world where 110lb. women can whip 210lb. rapists the way Xena does, 911 never makes a mistake, the police come via transporter, and you can trust to the discretion and judgement of a meth addicted two time loser who knows he's looking at life without parole if you ID him.

It reminds me of my mother who tried to make me drink at a wedding when I was in the Army. I told her that I'd get pitched out of the Army if I got a DUI. She just steadfastly told me that they couldn't do that... despite my naming the roster of my messhall cooks that we'd discharged for DUI in the past two years.

Anti-gunners by and large hate unpleasant reality and ignore it at all cost. 14,000 years ago, people like that got eaten by something before they could taint the gene pool.
 
I find a number of different things or a combination of them make people support keeping gun laws tough or even toughening them in the UK:

They do not trust themselves and/or others with firearms. They often believe firearms for self defence is a good idea, but also that they/others will tend to shoot people when it is unwarranted (over silly arguments etc) and that there will be accidents and people will get hurt or killed. I don't deny that a few people might get killed where they might not have done without firearms, but I believe the lives saved through self defence, the security of an armed citizenry and the freedom to enjoy the sport of shooting is worth that price.

They believe that firearms are unnescessary. Martial arts, running away and less lethal weapons such as pepper spray will do the job of self defence just as well, without costing lives. I disagree completely, as many people cannot use the above methods at all/effectively and even the most skilled and physically able user still has a high probabiliyu of failiure. Also, these ideas do not protect a people from their government.

They believe that criminals will use firearms in crime more. I disagree, criminals will not use legal guns as they will be registered (I believe in registration. Ok, it can lead to confiscation and restriction, but we just have to make sure it dosn't) and can be traced. Illegal guns exist and always will. They may become slightly cheaper as legal guns are stolen, but in the end I'd rather face two criminals with guns, and have a gun myself, than face two criminals, one with a gun and one with a knife, and be unarmed myself.

I do not believe that your average anti seriously wants to 'let rapists have their way with women' or 'make sure the government can opress the people' or anything like that. This is just the consequence of their beliefs. However, I do believe that politicians have the agenda of disarming the people to make themselves more secure (and also because it gets votes from antis).
 
Many ideas and beliefs (political, social, religious, etc) are indoctrinated during childhood and youth. It's very difficult to change your belief system after it's been ingrained into you all your life, even if someone tries to sit down and have a discussion.

It usually ends up in frustration. I'm sure you've all had experience where you tried to discuss politics, religion, society, and other "big topics" to someone with differing opinion, or someone trying to discuss conflicting beliefs with you. Its usually difficult to change someone's mind, or even allow the possibility of thinking other alternatives over.

...and ignorance is everywhere. No particular group is immune or less afflicted with it. You'll find ignorance in every facet of belief and society.

Quite frankly, cities that pass restrictive or bans on firearm categories will serve as statistical examples to the rest of the country of what happens when civilians can no longer purchase the tools in which to safekeep themselves and their loved ones while those who never followed the laws to begin with can continue to aquire such tools to cause harm and mayhem.
 
At the risk of making a blanket statement...

...It's all about IGNORANCE. Plain and simple. :banghead:

"14,000 years ago, people like that got eaten by something before they could taint the gene pool."
Click to expand...
Yeh, and a whole lotta that, too!!
 
In the spirit of DblOKevin's list, I have long held that those who support gun control fall into three primary groups (arranged by order of size ... largest first)

  • The Duped: These are the rank and file antis that believe the lies and distortions told by the other two groups. They believe that gun control will make them safer ... these are the people we can "convert" as long as they are willing to accept logic, reason and the truth. I believe the vast majority of those who say they support gun control are in this group.
  • The Partisans: There are a lot in this group who are also part of The Duped but basically these people are anti gun because they are Democrats or just plain Liberals ... they really know nothing about the gun debate nor do they care ... they just oppose gun ownership because their political allies do (and their political enemies support gun ownership).
  • The Power Seekers: These are the people who want to disarm us because they want to make it easier to enslave us ... this is a very small number of people (maybe just a few dozen to a few hundred) but they are the heads of the gun control movement and some of the politicians who push gun control bills (Feinstein and Schummer are probably among this group). These are the people who originate the lies and feed them to the two other groups. These are the people who must be destroyed (at least politically if not physically).
 
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The Duped CAN be turned...

I've had a chat or two about my guns with a couple of apparently "duped" types, and lo-n-behold, they LISTENED! And they went away CHANGED! Ignorance is among us, but occasionally it just needs a shove aside, allowing for unencumbered dialogue. Sometimes. And those "sometimes" are rather gratifying.:cool:
 
Cowardice.

Either afraid of what they would do if they were allowed to own guns. Or what their neighbor might do if he were allowed to own guns. Afraid of what Jamal might do if he were allowed to own a gun. That's all there is to it.
 
A few years ago I would have been neutral to lightly anti. I grew up in a family that had no involvement with firearms. The gun owners I knew were the typical redneck hunter stereotype. You'd occassionally hear someone talking about overthrowing the government to justify their right to guns and usually if you tried to have a discussion it would turn into a rather uneducated explosion sounding something like "ain't nobody gonna take my mf'in guns." Add in some false and misleading statistics from the anti-gun lobby and viola, instant anti. Afterall if most of society is dumb, how can it be a good idea to let them run around armed. I simply didn't care enough to put much research into my stance. I don't have any, logic says its a bad idea, statistics show its a bad idea, case closed.

Then some years later I learned I wasn't quite the invincible youth I had thought of myself as and realized sometimes you're all you've got. I feel like I did quite a bit of research and found out that my guesses were wrong and many of the statistics I had heard were very flawed and many issues talked about were based on missinformation or lies.

I really think alot of these people just don't care to educate themselves past listening that if you own a handgun you're 43 more likely to die from it. I think the solution is education. Don't jump right in to the violent overthrow of the us government. Don't get violently angry and obscene, try to keep your discussions civil and scholarly. Talk about real world possibilities like rape, crazy people in public, disasters like katrina and I think you'll find people are at least willing to listen. Most importantly take people who are inexperienced out shooting. Let them see that gun owners are very concerned about safety and that the stereotypical people they imagine they will see at the range probably won't actually be there. Let them shoot a little and see that the gun isn't going to go off on its own and isn't hard to operate. Let them see if nothing else target shooting is actually a fun sport.

Not everyone has grown up with guns and many people have no information past what they read in the newspaper. If you don't turn into a "gun nut" I think a surprising number of people will listen to what you have to say. If you say "well you're just afraid of guns, you coward" you're probably not going to get anywhere.
 
If the ignorance examples do not cover it then it comes down to someone either wanting to have power over others or someone wanting to take power from others.

Therefore I pretty much explain it by ignorance and power these days.

I have decided I will never understand them and while I am happy to have a discussion on the subject it tends to so quickly become an attack from their side that there is no room for education or anything else.

And really that is part of the problem, they don't just believe they are right they believe there is no room for any other thoughts on the subject so everyone else MUST be wrong.

Best thing I ever did in life is get a real education and realize that there are many sides to all topics and it is nearly impossable to be an expert about all things. So study things, learn about them, talk about them, seek out others who have knowledge on the subject, and keep an open mind as you learn about things so that you truly are learning and not trying to arm yourself with statistics that support your side.
 
Generalizations are bad. Absolutes are bad too.

Instead of asking pro-gun people to speculate what makes anti-gun people tick, why not go ask anti-gun people yourself...
 
Yesterday I read some 300 posts to a guy that was linked on http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/.

His argument was that him being a total nerd, he would not be able to leave the gun alone and not being familiar with the proper safety operations would probably shoot someone. At the end he stated something to the effect that he did not believe that he was responsible enough to handle it, but did state that others should be allowed to own and take full responsibility for the safe handling of the weapon.

Many of the comments were the usual liberal spew, some were not, and of course the troller(pro-gun). The troller was constantly taking to task anyone who would debate courteously with him. Made for good reading.

The best quotes show the disconnect between the sides and I actually did fall out of my chair from the brilliance shown in an otherwise liberal post. It went something to the effect...

"Yeah, but I will never forgive Hillary for her illegal support of this illegal war by this illegal Bushco/Haliburton administration. There is nothing she WON'T do to stay in power."

The next was a lady that said it all about growing up in context.

"When you say 'gun' to urban white liberal, we instantly think black gangbangers selling drugs. Say that to a rural person and they think hunting, that great dog, and friends after the hunt. Racism is not confined to a political party."

Neither quote is exact, but the sentiment is intact.

I thought there was well written and thought out post by people on both sides. Some of the remarks by the anti's had real insight into the criminal problems, some were just bitter and hateful.

If you follow the link, there is some harsh language in the debate, also thoughts that may make you pull your hair, and even some where you will rejoice out loud.

Basically no one can be pigeonholed, there is just as much disagreement on the left as there is on the right.

DCH
 
My personal opinion.....

Waaaaaaaaaaaah. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Wah, wah, wah. Sniff. Sniff.

They want their way anyway they can have it. Its a 3 year old psychology.
 
Instead of asking pro-gun people to speculate what makes anti-gun people tick, why not go ask anti-gun people yourself...
Click to expand...
I've been doing that for twenty years, in FidoNet and usenet.

Frequently, they lie.

The biggest lie is, "I'm afraid of guns." What they all too frequently mean is "I'm afraid of Black people/Mexicans/Puerto Ricans/Laotians/etc. with guns." The racism in the anti-gun movement is so thick, it takes a chainsaw to cut it.

All too many of them are nihilists, misanthropes, and misogynists. They LIKE it when people are victimized. It gives them a vicarious thrill. This is especially so when it comes to rape. They don't mind if a woman resists, so long as she doesn't resist effectively, and doesn't seriously endanger the rapist. I've had English anti-gunners tell me that women shouldn't be allowed to have guns because they're "afraid they'll be mistaken for a rapist". My reply was:

1. How do you conduct yourself around women that you make a convincing model of a rapist?

2. Put down that butcher knife, pull up your pants, and nobody will "mistake" you for a rapist.
 
Hmm, a bunch of self-serving "They're all icky. We're cool."

There are as many reasons for people being anti as there are for them being pro. Not all of them are character defects any more than our reasons for being on the other side.
 
I kind of think it is "ICKY" the way the anti's think. They could easily have their utopia tomorrow by moving to Cuba, Venezuela, N. Korea and many other places. But, they don't want to achieve utopia for them selves. They seem to want freedom to be denied to those who want it. It seems to me that they want everyone dragged down to the lowest common denominator, but ruled by the leftist elites.
 
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