Kind word and a gun

There is a saying,

You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.

 And like the best of lies and deception, the best of them have an element of truth.

However, the above saying is not true in most cases if you brandish your gun (i.e. display it gratuitously) . However, if you leave your negotiating partner determine on their own (say, by the bulge under your sport coat) that you have a gun, your outcome of negotiations will likely be much better.

Humans are perhaps the most irrational creatures ever created on this planet.   Is that a by-product of being the Alpha species or a cause of it?

A very serious question to consider