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/

It beggars belief that so many seemingly normal and intelligent people buy into the "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to be a good guy with a gun" narrative.

Sadly, I can't see it changing. If massacred children doesn't make the gun supporters stop and think, then nothing will.

I can see the other side

I was with my brother in LA in an plush area (he lives there) we had picked up something to eat then stopped off to buy some beer/wine. It wasn’t that late but dark. Walking back to the car that was parked behind the shop we walked into some young men who were obviously selling drugs the were not particularly bothered by us but stared as we got in the car and were intimidating. There is absolutely no doubt at least one of them would have had a gun. Now if that was what I would experience often would I feel safer arming myself maybe as I was terrified. I am well aware young men I see about may have knives but it doesn’t make me fearful in the same way

But the thought of having a gun in my home doesn’t sit right with me it’s not my go to answer but I do live in a different society

In an ok area

Not sure why it changed to plush it’s isn't

Even Trump seems to think that games are to blame. But don't worry, he's willing to consider more gun control. In exchange for immigration reform.

It beggars belief that so many seemingly normal and intelligent people buy into the "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to be a good guy with a gun" narrative.

I said this in the other thread- the El Paso shooting just highlights the fallaciousness of that argument.
Texas is an open carry state. Where were the good guys with guns?

They were in the Walmart. I read a report that said there were so many 'open carry' customers in there, the Police didn't know who the shooter was. So it only confuses everything.

@Gooigi

Would you say we live in a pretty peaceful world? There's been over 250 shootings in the US this year, more than there's been days, I am NOT saying that this is down to video games but being constantly surrounded by violence desensitize people to violence.

That's why people stop crying and caring about bombings in Irak/Afghanistan/Syria, that's why people have no qualms changing channels when Unicef ads are on and the sight of starving children have become "old news" and that's why people are now way more likely to roll their eyes than shed a tear when there is a shooting in America. When violence is all you see you stop caring as much, it doesn't affect you as much and it simply becomes the norm.

It takes a certain of person to murder someone, so no, video games are unlikely to turn the majority of the population into murderers but video games lead to social isolation, violent video games do desensitize you to violence and in fact reward you the more violent you get so while it won't be responsible for someone shooting a school or a mall it can very well partially be behind someone's apparent lack of empathy and make it much easier for someone to kill with little remorse than someone who's never been confronted to any kind of violence before.

Because there is shooting in video games people blame mass shootings on them. Odd how no one blames video games when mass killings are done using a car or a bomb. Same motivation, different weapon.

The motivation is finding someone to blame for their misery and then punishing them. Be it Jews, Mexicans, immigrants, Americans, the first world, school bullies or girls. They project their hatred into that "other" and inflict maximum damage. It isn't video games that make a person want to do that.

I may be wrong so sorry if I am. From what I have seen online and other places there seems to be a whole generation of very angry young men who were promised the American dream where they could be whatever they wanted, own whatever they wanted and sleep with whoever they wanted. Who are now realising this isn't the case and are angry about it. I'm not saying they will all go commuting mass shootings but this feeling of anger at the world added to someone who is already capable of such things plus access to guns is a recipe for disaster.

Texas is an open carry state. Where were the good guys with guns?

I live to know the actual stats on this one as you see it as a reason for others to carry guns by many after such shootings

But in reality how many of these kind of shootings are actually stopped by a good guy with a gun? Not including police.

@Linning

No the world is not entirely peaceful. It hasn't been since long before video games were invented. People can tell the difference between real violence and what's simulated on a screen. Around half the adult population are gamers, most are not murderers.

And frankly I'm quite insulted at the insinuation that because I occasionally play violent games means I have less empathy than someone who doesn't.

@Gooigi Sigh. You seem to adamantly discard what I say and twist it into generalities I haven’t made.

If you read my posts (carefully this time) you will see that A) I have said that it takes a certain person to murder someone and therefore of course video games can’t turn people into murderers! B) it does desensitize SOME people , you aren’t representative of the entire population, are you? Would you genuinely say that you reaction to the last shootings and daily bombings in war zone is the same as when you first heard about them? Or do you admit that things like news can desensitize people to this type of events to the point that people will roll their eyes when hearing of a shooting instead of being filled with sadness? It doesn’t mean people who roll their eyes at events happening in the US have no empathy but they stop caring in the same way, and stop responding to it in the same way. Video games can induce the same type of response to violence.

If you would rather feel insulted than accept that some things make you less sensitive to certain information/events then it’s on you, not me.

It's an excuse I think. I think if someone is already predisposed to violence then a violent video game, film or song might trigger it in them, but millions of people game without an issue.

If you saw me on GTA you'd be horrified but I'm a civil, morally upstanding person who wouldn't hurt a fly... BECAUSE I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GAME AND REAL LIFE.

To paraphrase Goldie Lookin Chain. GAMES DON'T KILL PEOPLE, PEOPLE DO.

America like to make out that video games turn normal kids into mass murderers. When the simple fact is, these kids were never normal.

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

I could be wrong but aren't the Swiss mostly required to keep ammunition locked up at the range?

I could be wrong but aren't the Swiss mostly required to keep ammunition locked up at the range?

No they must keep 30 rounds at home at all times to enable them to fight their way to their designated muster point in the event of invasion.

Of course hearing about the 500th real shooting isn't the same as hearing about the first. But games aren't real and are completely different to the actual killing that goes in the world. I fail to see how playing Skyrim is going to make someone feel differently about someone shooting up a school, any more that watching The Exorcist or listening to Marlylin Manson would.

Or do you have any actual evidence that playing games "make it much easier for someone to kill with little remorse"?

No one (on here) is saying that video games cause people to go out and shoot others

But there is a pattern in many of these mass shootings in the states of course the easy access to guns is the main factor but the social isolation and violent gaming is more often than not a factor and as someone else has posted they have always concerned others with what appears to be odd behaviour

And notoriously, Kinder Surprise Eggs are banned* in the USA because they are 'dangerous.'

*a safely disarmed toyless variant is legally imported.

We play video games in other parts of the world without mass violence

That excuse has been going around since before the James Bulger case.

I think it may desensitised normal children to violence, but not actively act out violence. Especially considering by 16+ you know what is real and what is not.

I think the type of person who may be addicted to playing violent video games may correlate with the type of person to commit violence. But they are not the same thing.

Upbringing and values/beliefs of the people around them is going to play a much larger part.

I think with America it’s a different beast to most of the rest of the world. In that it presents as one country with several different states, but those different states can make their own laws and it seems a blanket law for the whole country can never be successfully applied. So whilst those in built up city areas can argue Guns should be banned outright due to the issues they so obviously cause, those further afield who may rely on their firearm for survival (hunting, farmers keeping away predators etc) will steadfastly disagree. Because there is such a huge disparity in the way of life between many states it’s difficult to get a clear consensus on the issue because, for example, somebody who lives in New York has a completely different way of life to somebody who lives in Back Swamp Louisiana.

Video games can I’m sure, cause a young impressionable mind to become desensitised and add to that online chat where children can be groomed to almost any cause it may lead a person to radicalisation (of varying forms) but that does not mean Video Games to Gun Violence is a certainty. Nor does the blanket excuse of MH do the issue any favours.

I’m sure most people would agree that an individual who is capable of gunning down innocent people is unhinged, but the MH isn’t the issue there, it’s the ease of access to deadly weaponry without stringent checks and controls in place.

Correlation =/= causation

I'm an autistic person with my issues, grew up playing GTA and CoD, listening to Marilyn Manson and love horror films.

Even if I could get a load of guns, I'm not going to go and shoot up Asda. Because I know the difference between right and wrong, and I care about other people.

Even if I can logically say that (due to desensitation? Or just the way my mind works?) in the right awful circumstances I think I could theoretically kill someone (random I know, but it comes from a conversation on fb), I still know that there is a huge leap between that and murdering innocent people because I feel the world owes me something.

*mh issues