The truth is that it takes more than violent media to create a killer. Hitler never played Call of Duty.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre was quick to point a cold, dead finger of blame at "a callous corrupt and disgusting shadow industry ... vicious violent video games” as the driver behind this horrific act. A few politicians then joined in on this chorus of dunces. And so continues our national obsession with irresponsibly exploiting our most incomprehensible tragedies for the sake of shameless self-promotion…
Which has a greater influence on shootings: video games or easy access to guns? Let’s pretend that we live on a planet where that question isn’t absolutely, batshit insane.
Here are 3 unequivocal truths:
• Mentally unstable gamers without access to guns can’t shoot people.
• Mentally unstable gamers with access to guns sometimes shoot people.
• Mentally unstable people who don’t play video games also sometimes shoot people.
The problem here is unbalanced individuals with access to guns, not Playtstations. This reality is much more complicated than it may initially sound, however the undeniable truth is that gun violence is limited when crazy people are limited in their access to guns. (Personally, I’m fine with sane people being armed, but it's not realistic to think that we can put a Rick Grimes on every street corner.)
Violence in society is complicated problem without a bumper sticker solution. When the CEO of the NRA has the temerity-filled nutsac to say “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” it’s clear that the members of the NRA board of directors like to pretend that they live in Deadwood (no doubt with regular arguments over who gets to be the degenerate tit licker.) To paint a picture of a valiant gunslinger dealing semi-automatic justice in an elementary school hallway only days after the Sandy Hook massacre is to disrespect the gravity of the monstrous act of violence that took place there. To then deflect blame onto the video games industry is a gross oversimplification of the reality.
The truth is that it takes more than violent media to create a killer. Hitler never played Call of Duty.
However, some politicians couldn’t help but use this incident as an opportunity to capture the national spotlight. California state senator, Leland Yee, recently apologized for his ill-advised gaffe: "Gamers have just got to quiet down. Gamers have no credibility in this argument. This is all about their lust for violence and the industry's lust for money.”
Senator Yee’s statement may have been simple and irrelevant…but at least he alienated several million people when he said it. First of all, gamers don’t lust for violence, they lust for fun, mental stimulation, and sunlight. Yes, it is true that the video game industry does have a lust for money…just like every other industry in the world. But do we blame the National Football League for every drunken, post-game brawl between rival jackass fans outside of Big Dick’s Circumcised Sports Bar? No we don’t, because that would be stupid. And like Senator Yee’s argument, it has no credibility.
Connecticut senator Chris Murphy also tried to make a name for himself with the following statement: "I think there's a question as to whether he [the Sandy Hook gunman] would have driven in his mother's car in the first place if he didn't have access to a weapon that he saw in video games that gave him a false sense of courage about what he could do that day.”
Senator Murphy’s rudimentary assessment of the situation somehow ignores the much more obvious question as to whether the gunman would have committed this atrocity without easy access to a cache of assault rifles PERIOD. Several things were more influential than video games in the gunman’s act of driving his mother’s car to that school. I’m surprised Senator Murphy isn’t investigating the role that unleaded gasoline played here, as well.
Politicians and lobbyists incapable of responsibly exploring accountability in the face of tragedy are a big, fat, sick, fucking joke. These sycophants are the same people who swore that Judas Priest lyrics caused teen suicide, reefer madness made children gay, and women’s suffrage would lead to men giving birth through their penis holes.
Anyone who singles out video games over a marketplace of cheap and easily-accessible guns as a key contributor to public violence deserves to be shot in the ass with a blowgun. But don’t tell that to the NRA. Such a proposal is just nonsensical and violent enough that they might actually find a way to exploit it for their own self-seeking ends.