“In male youths involved in the criminal justice system, the relationship between psychological distress and gun carrying seems to be influenced by exposure to violence (either experiencing or witnessing it).” – Joan A. Reid, PhD; Tara N. Richards, PhD; Thomas A. Loughran, PhD; Edward P. Mulvey, PhD in The Relationships Among Exposure to Violence, Psychological Distress, and Gun Carrying Among Male Adolescents Found Guilty of Serious Legal Offenses: A Longitudinal Cohort Study [via annals.org]

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

62 COMMENTS

  1. Hang out with criminals and you will likely eventually be a victim or a suspect. That’s upsetting, so some people carry a gun to help with the stress.

    Or did I mis-translate?

    And what happened to that poor pistol on the left? At least the holder has some trigger discipline, though. That has to count for something. I guess.

    • Well done, NOOC. As near as I can tell, I think you translated this from Gobbledygook to reasonably comprehensible English. Not only that, but a bit of intellectual curiosity sent me scrambling to find out what a “Longitudinal Cohort Study” is, a phrase I’ve never seen before and am rather unlikely ever to see again.

      • The pistol is clearly a Hi-point, ‘natch.
        Can’t tell if the revolver is a stolen Smith model 19 or a stolen Taurus

  2. It’s too bad Obama spent so much time beatifying thugs and praising Thuglife.
    He should have set a productive example instead.
    The horrendous harvest we shell reap because of that incompetent is just getting started.

    • Nah… There’s no white guy with a bible in the shot. I’m sure said white guy would be wearing a klan style white sheet too. Well, maybe not the sheet because Klinton has been around the klan enough to know they aren’t a threat to her.

  4. I also found it interesting that, according to the link, the primary funding source is “none.”

    • The first thing that gun make me think of is a story an instructor told. He was getting berated about carrying a Glock by a high dollar 1911 carrying instructor and so he pulls his gun out, at the range, and who’s it down towards the targets, then tells his coworker “Your turn.” The guy dropped his head, turned around and walked away.

  6. It took all those PhD’s to figure out bad guys like guns.
    Huh, I’m gonna start using PhD after my name.

    • Just put: Tom in Oregon, PhD ABD

      ABD (All But Done) -Means you’ve been schooled just not officially papered. People actually use it on their credentials. Ran into a school psychologist who did this is how I found out. LOL

      • Actually, it’s All But Dissertation. All the course work is done, but the dissertation hasn’t been completed and defended. Since dissertations are small to medium books, it’s actually a huge portion of the process of earning the PhD.

      • ABD is a legitimate designation. The dissertation must still be competed and publicly defended before a committee, but all of the coursework and comprehensive exams have been passed.

        Where you see ABD indicated is usually in job seekers applying for academic positions, but it’s also used informally among peers just to give an indication if where you are in the program. You cannot remain an ABD indefinitely, however, as every school has a maximum number of years within which to earn a degree. For a Ph.D., it varies, but a maximum allowable of ten total years is not uncommon.

        What you want to watch out for are people who in conversation, their bio, or on a resume mention that they “did graduate work at…” such and such university. That casual phrasing can be innocuous, meaning just that’s where they earned their graduate degree. Alternatively, it can mean they held a postdoctoral fellowship at the school.

        Or, it can conceal the fact that they took some coursework there (perhaps a single class!), but either dropped out or flunked out without earning a degree. The loose phrasing can invite the reader/listener to assume the person graduated with a degree. So if it really matters, then you should really verify.

  7. For all you semi auto fanboys out there. Which would you rather face on the street? Man on left or on right?

    Which of those 2 weapons would you bet on malfunctioning?

    • Betting that any particular firearm pointed in my direction will malfunction seems like a very bad idea. The biggest POS pistol on the market can still ruin your day if this is the time it actually works as intended.

    • I will take your attempted thread hijack and raise you one more.

      Are you sure either one is a “Man”? Could be chicks. Just sayin 🙂

      • Oh, yeah? I’ll call your raise it…
        That is a hate filled comment! None of us could possibly know how either individual gender identifies! Your thinking is sooooooooo 2003. Perhaps they identify as a zhe? Get with the times. Sheesh… 🙂

    • jwm, the revolver will not even fire once if the cylinder is jammed up, the semi on the other hand will likely go bang at least once. (Want to take any bets on my semi jamming?)

    • This reminds me. I’ve decided on my next gun. Goin’ ghetto with a Cobra .380 so I can call myself the “Cobra Commander”.

      Here’s a cool thing about a ghetto blaster: Your backup is a tube sock. If the gun fails, you put it in a sock and beat the fuck out of your victim with it.

      That’s how I know the guy on the left is the BAMF of the two.

    • I don’t know, I wouldn’t want people saying a Hi-point got me, but then again at least it’s american

  8. So, guys who are at high risk of violence by their peers are likely to try to mitigate that risk by carrying a gun?

    Seriously, it took four PhD’s to figure that out?

    • Technically it took four to *prove* it statistically, but yeah. A lot of academia consists of proving obvious, or even self-evident. The better question, is whether carrying a gun actually mitigated the risk of criminal behavior (from an objective, not moral, standpoint). Being resonably intelligent young men aware of threats, I suspect it does.

      I’ll take that Genius Grant, now.

      This story did remind me greatly of the hop-head Yale doctor character from Red Dead Redemption, who was amazed to discover natives have the same blood as whites at the microscopic level. “For a Wise Man, you are a *very* stupid man” –Nastaz

  9. Maybe these “thugs” just live by the creed, “Shoot or get shot. Kill or be killed.”, or is that too simplistic for these so-called Academics.

  10. With”stop and frisk” and so many other reasons to get stopped in a thug’s life, I am pretty sure he carries only when he is ready “to do the deed”, or maybe when he knows someone is out to shoot him.
    Many of these gangs have guns that come out only then. Sooner or later, every gang member on the street is going to be “hassled by the man”. Carrying a gun every day in the inner city is a good way to get sent up river.

    • Unfortunately it also appears that a lot of the court systems are practicing catch and release or dropping the firearms charges all together in hopes for a plea plea bargain.

      • Can’t “discriminate” against thugs. It’s clearly discrimination against criminalsm to only send criminals to prison.

  13. Wow… For such a rambling and meaningless statement, there are a lot of PhD’s associated with it.

    As Dire Straits sang it, that seems pretty much like “Money for Nothing”.

    Maybe I should’ve been a Sociology major.

    Look at them quotes.
    That’s how ya do it!
    Spewing nonsense with a PhD!

    Swag that sheepskin!
    That’s how ya do it!
    Get your silly quotes published
    … and your street-cred for free!
    ?

  14. Reminds me of a guy I worked with who wrote his master’s thesis on “Why does a large percentage of African-Americans not know how to swim?” His conclusion after spending all the federal funding on his “research?” “Their parents didn’t teach them.” I kid you not.

    • Degrees generally mean, “I take tests more gooder.” When you add a PHD it means you plagiarize more gooder or state the obvious creatively.

      People who flaunt the PHD’s around me soon want to go thug…

  15. “the relationship between psychological distress and gun carrying seems to be influenced by exposure to violence (either experiencing or witnessing it).” – winner of the ‘No Shit Sherlock’ award.

  18. Is it odd to not want pictures taken of oneself holding a gun. I don’t think I have allowed since I was an ROTC cadet in the ’80s.

  19. Wait…I think I got it.

    Thugs commit crime.
    Thugs use guns to commit crime.
    Guns need hands to hold them.
    Thugs have hands.
    Ergo…if thugs had no hands, there’d be no crime!!!

    Eureka!!! Its so obvious…ban hands!!! Mr and Mrs America…turn in your hands!!

  22. And this was written by Captain Obvious phd???
    Wow…. they actually got a grant to do research on this…. I could have told you that for free.

  23. You can distill the results of their study even more:

    The possibility of violence – whether experienced directly or by direct or indirect observation – is the primary reason that ALMOST ANYONE carries a gun (other than hunting or plinking). Why do legal concealed carriers go through the effort – training, permits, changes in apparel, discomfort – of carrying? Because of the threat of violence. If I lived in Magical Unicorn Land, where there was no chance of anything untoward happening to me or my loved ones, why would I bother carrying?

    It’s pretty easy to complete an expensive study when the conclusions are preordained.

  25. It is always impressive to see the results of the higher educated who built public housing projects. They told single mothers they could live there for “free.”
    But the catch was the women could not have a man in the home for any reason. They also could not have any firearms.
    But they would get lots of welfare and a big variety of “free stuff.”

    It seems some white people would perfer the government intervention in single mothers lives, instead of a loving committed black man.
    But the higher educated do support two parent homosexual marriage.

  26. Not surprising. If a cop catches them with a gun they might go to jail for a week before getting released for “good behavior”. If an opposing gang member catches them without a gun they’ll probably end up dead. Which option do you think they are going to pick?

  27. How many races / cultures in the U.S. do we have that do phantasy level adoration of POS? Why are they mostly (and mostly vote) evil (D)?

    F ’em all, and all those breeding this stupid.

Comments are closed.