Carl Jung’s “shadow” concept –the part of us we reject, deny and project onto others–would appear to contain in addition to traits we are ashamed of,  also traits and beliefs that are unconscious, leading to mistakenly motivated beliefs and actions. .  I know that’s a mouthful, but for example, evolution’s kinship selection seems to underly prejudice which we deny and are unaware of.

Strongly held drives and unconscious emotional beliefs can  can result in illogical decisions.  One such effect is associated with gun champions.   According to Shankar Vedantam, who painstakingly researched and published  The Hidden Brain,  uivocally is no. “The issue is whether people who live in homes with guns are safer as a result of owning a gun, and the answer  is unequivocally no.” (p 235).   The combined risk of “accidents, suicide and domestic violence dwarfs the risk of homicide at the hands of a stranger.” (p 236).

“We certainly feel more control  when we have a gun in our posession, and it is easy to confuse the feeling of control with safety. Indeed, this is an unconscious bias in the hidden brain….” p 237