To think video games do not cause mass shootings?

[falonDin]

Three shootings in the space on a week. At least one targeted immigrants. The US has a president that is racist, anti-immigrant, very popular on 8-Chan where the shooter put his 'manifesto' and is in the pocket of the NRA. But it's video games that are to blame apparently.

eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/04/el-paso-dayton-mass-shootings-kevin-mccarthy-says-video-games-partly-blame/1915061001/

twitter.com/brianklaas/status/1158032471495196677?s=19

Found the tweet! Again usual caveat of I cannot personally verify the statistics other than population levels.

We have violent video games in the UK but we don't have the same level of violent shooting. I wonder why that is (scratches head).

We used to watch people being hung for entertainment and there were no mass shootings. Again, I wonder why?....

I'd also add that Japan (video game capital of the whole world) has very, very few mass killings.

It is a distinct American problem as this picture shows.

Shocking figures

Lockheart Brian Klass is usually spot on with his information

We have been to the US many times and to many different states. Americans are very different to people in the U.K., although there are a few extremely rich people an awful lot are very poor and the welfare state does not exist. Many are very poorly educated, whilst there are some of the best universities in the world for those who can pay.

Guns to a huge number of Americans are almost a religion, especially those in the ‘fly over states’, (you fly over them to get to somewhere important). This obsession does exist in the U.K. - there are no votes in banning them, even stopping the sale of the most dangerous will get you many votes. Vicious circle I am afraid

They don't. Plenty of research has been done into this.

I remember the Hungerford massacre in 1987 - no computer games existed then

Interesting leckford

I just don't get the need for semi automatic weapons. Why would you need them, apart from a massacre? I saw on Twitter the ammo case/magazine that was part of the killer's rifle in Ohio. I was shocked. It held 100 bullets. And he had another one with him.

So American will never get rid of guns but why do they need this sort of stuff?

Many video games are very realistic and very very violent

So they can go towards desensitizing. And also the social isolation

It can’t be ignored that this is often a factor in mass shooting particularly in the states - but it is one factor amongst many and ones that are considerably more influential

But I wouldn’t say it has nothing to do with the mindset of these young men

Video games: Entertaining kids for 40 years.
Violence: Killing people for thousands of years.

Link is obvious..

In "Bowling for Columbine" (well worth a watch). Michael Moore goes to a Canadian town just across the border from the US. Canadian gun laws are pretty relaxed (which MM demonstrates by buying a rifle and ammo in a K-Mart in Canada). However in the town - where MM interviews kids all playing video games - the local police can't recall the last murder with a gun.

The implication being it's Americans that are the problem. Not their gun laws and not their culture

The country with one of the highest per-capita gun ownerships in the world - Switzerland - also has a correspondingly low murder rate.

If video games caused violence, I should have become a serial killer

It's gun ownership and gun laws. There have been a number of studies on this, and neither mental health nor video games make a tiny fraction of the difference that unrestricted access to guns does. Switzerland, for example, has a relatively high rate of gun ownership but far more restrictive laws.

It's gun ownership and gun laws.

Neither of which explains Canada or Switzerland.

It could just be Americans ?

Mass shootings, wars, terrorist atrocities, women killed by partners and spouses, family annihilators . . . what do almost all of them have in common? The perpetrators are male. The commonality is not video games or nationality or culture, it's a Y chromosome.

There is a shit load of evidence to show that playing violent video games/watching violent films on a regular basis desensitized people to actual violence and makes them less empathetic. There is some debate on how long the effect last, and it seems to be a particularly strong effect in teens. Now if you are a normal empathetic person you can "afford" to lose some empathy and sensitivity to violence and you'll still function normally in society. If you already have a low empathy score, or a high tolerance to violence (typical of abused and alienated children ) then exposure to this sort of material is only going to move you into the danger zone. Mix that with ideology and guns and that is big trouble.

So you think that is normal behaviour for men then tim? I think if all it took is a male chromosome then we'd be in a lot worse trouble than we are.

Not my Nigel.

Social isolation, maybe undiagnosed mh, easily influenced by other gamers, a desire to be noticed/talked about or feelings of grandeur, desensitized from viewing so much violence and playing violent games, hating a particular group of people (along with those you game with) and of course easy access to guns

Of course it can be a factor as many things can be that doesn’t mean it’s the the cause as the the persons actions is what kills but what led them to commit a mass shooting will be a number of factors it’s rarely just one but the fact that so many people can be killed at one time is down to them having a gun/guns

Would they commit another type of violent crime if they didn’t have access to a gun we don’t know but certainly there would be less fatalities

Nope they do not.

Capitalism is at the root of the gun problem in America.

I just don't get the need for semi automatic weapons.

Nearly every gun available to buy is a Semi Automatic.

I am a gun owning Brit in the US. I would guess that 50% of our neighbors are gun owners. We have 5 rifles and 3 handguns, 3 of which were purchased in store with a background check. The rest were trades.

Interestingly I have never experienced any violence.

I remember the Hungerford massacre in 1987 - no computer games existed then

Yes they did.

One computer game in 1987, for example.

But the point is valid. Bad men people have done similar things throughout history.

I am a gun owning Brit in the US.

Out of interest why do you have them?