NRA blames games in wake of shooting
US gun lobby blasts "callous, corrupt shadow industry" as part of culture of violence, says the media encourages shootings
A week after the Newtown, Connecticut shootings that left dozens dead, the National Rifle Association has blamed the media in general, and violent games specifically. In a press conference today, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre cast the blame for the massacre not on guns, but on the media, and on games.
"There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt, and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against own people, through vicious violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, and Splatterhouse," LaPierre said.
He introduced a crude downloadable game called Kindergarten Killers, a first-person shooter that depicted a schoolyard shooting. He suggested that the media was either lazy in not reporting on the existence of such a game, or intentionally keeping it a secret.
"They portray murder as a way of life and then have the nerve to call it entertainment," LaPierre said in reference to media companies the world over. "But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?"
LaPierre said that the media rewards shooters with attention and wall-to-wall coverage, only encouraging further attacks.
As for how to prevent future tragedies, LaPierre called for armed guards deployed in every school in America by the time kids return from their holiday breaks in January, saying, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." He also suggested a national database of the mentally ill.
The conference was broken up twice by protesters, one with a sign saying the NRA kills kids, another yelling that the organization has blood on its hands.
Founded in 1871 to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis," the NRA has long represented the interests of gun owners and manufacturers in US politics. It is a staunch believer in the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and now boasts more than 4 million members.
Meh.
..... I no longer have ANY respect for the NRA.
The problem at hand isn't the tool but the person wielding them.
Now I am not defending the NRA, far from it but both sides need to meet in the middle. Stop blaming guns, stop blaming violent video games and start working together to combat mental health
Mankind is a violent race, we have been since the dawn of time. Cavemen would use stones and blunt weapons for weapons and tools. Our history is full of violence and all of that was done without both guns and video games.
Hell even religious texts show more violence than video games...David vs Goliath...he used a pebble in a sling and with a direct shot to the forehead, killed a giant instantly.
Oh and let's not even mention the crusades.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Adam Jordan on 21st December 2012 5:36pm
ISo, we are going to have to root for obamadon to come up with something inventive to counter this in the horse trading that will ensue.
Car accidents... How many people a year die in car accidents? Are cars designed to kill people? Quite the opposite in fact; there are many safety standards that have to be met by all manufacturers to sell in certain countries. Maybe we should make cars illegal since they're far more effective at inflicting mass civilian casualties worldwide. Can a car not be considered a tool of sorts?
Alcohol... How many people die a year from alcohol poisoning? What would happen if we made alcohol illegal (other than the massive outcry of colleges all over the world)... Oh wait, the US tried that already. It was called the prohibition. Al Capone was a result of that... so good job there. Alcohol is not exactly a tool... but it's never the less dangerous.
Heavy machinery... Certainly considered a tool. Industrial plants, agriculture, auto industry, you name it.... all dangerous in their own way. Ban these and production around the world comes to a halt.
But lets get back to cars, since statistics show more civilian fatalities are caused by car accidents than gun violence. Anybody with enough of a crazy desire to kill, can do it just as easily, more effectively, and with more safety to themselves; than they could with a gun. One insane taxi cab driver could take out more people in downtown New York City in one go, than the combined total of all gun violence in a single year. All they have to do is find a crowd of people.
So... if you ask me, it seems like taking the time to ban cars would be a more efficient way to spend that time, since the result would be a greater number of lives saved per year.
The "Let's ban cars" argument is ridiculous anyway, as the primary purpose of a vehicle is not to kill people, it's to transport people from one location to another. The consequences of banning cars would also be much more obviously harmful than banning guns. The argument also assumes that since we can't eliminate all avoidable deaths, that we should never take any measures to decrease avoidable deaths, which is quite frankly, silly in the extreme.
It also assumes that the only two possibilities are maintain the status quo, or ban guns entirely, which isn't the case at all. Vehicle licencing laws are actually a pretty good example of that.
I'm not necessarily arguing that guns should be banned, but I see this faulty argument used all the time, and it bugs the hell out of me.
I have played violent games for many years, but I have never thought about hurting anyone.
Only a non-gamer would think that using a controller to shoot imaginary pixels/polygons would somehow give you the ability
to do so in real life.
It's like the 80's all over again, where heavy metal was responsible for all the world's evils.
On the money. It should also be pointed out that gun manufacturers have happily allowed developers to feature their copyrighted weapons in video and computer games in the past. Because the gun manufacturers knew it amounted to free marketing and advertising to an audience they couldn't ethically directly market to, kids and teens. And now the NRA... the association which receives more than fifty percent of it's funding from the gun industry... is placing all of the blame for the glorification of guns and gun violence on the game industry and Hollywood? There's not a marketing person in the gun industry who doesn't have multiple contacts in the game industry and in Hollywood and doesn't actively work to have their products placed in movies and games. Unfortunately mainstream media outlets, so far, are not calling out the hypocrisy of the NRA's claims.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by David Serrano on 21st December 2012 9:35pm
He was the armed sheriff's deputy on duty during the Columbine massacre.
So armed guards don't work.
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21568735-only-drastic-gun-control-could-make-big-difference-small-measures-can-help-bit-newtowns?zid=312&ah=da4ed4425e74339883d473adf5773841
Games have their place in this... as does the media, as does music (NWA?), as does entertainment... but only guns are *designed* and bought for the sole purpose of KILLING.
Guards obviously wouldn't work... they will just be the first targets, and give people access to even more weapons. And what happens when one of the guards decides to 'turn', and start killing the people they should protect? What next, bring in Robocops?
There is *no sane* justification for average citizens to have access to assault weapons. If anything, games reinforce this view.
I'd bet if you ask some of these folks what their favorite films were, you'd hear Die Hard, the Dirty Harry Series, Saving Private Ryan, a bunch of old to recent westerns, The Terminator, RoboCop, The Godfather, Goodfellas, and so forth and so on named up and down on both sides of the aisle as well as in the middle. Of course, those will mostly be Black Hat/White Hat films, but I do recall complaints about a station full of cops being blown away in The Terminator nudging Cameron to make T2's cops shot by Arnold "only" suffer leg wounds (I guess walking with a cane is better than being movie dead)...
Oddly enough, the NRA going on and on about how awful these games are and not mentioning they had a part in at least two "non-violent" ones (Gun Club and Varmint Hunter) is a bit hypocritical (even if the games aren't anything resembling a modern shooter).
Well, they've shot themselves in the foot over this one, I'd say..
At the end of the day, schools should be the one place a kid can go outside the home where learning is the prime focus, not paranoia and Civil Defense-era Duck and Cover drills for potential flying bullets instead of nuclear fallout. Who wants to live, work or play literally under the gun ALL the damn time. Talk about a police state...
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Greg Wilcox on 22nd December 2012 1:36am
Only people in so called marksman clubs are allowed to store weapons at home (which gets heavily discussed). And those clubs aren't really popular anyway. All the massacers that happened were either kids that were in those clubs or whose parents were in those clubs. Now, I definately don't want to generalize gun owners as potential murderers, but there are and there will be mentally ill people out there. If they get easy access to weaponary those tragedies are the consequences....
When it comes to the NRA and their statements however we can't help but wonder. How can a statement like "If there would have been more people with guns it wouldn't have come so far" actually be discussed within the population? And how can any spokesman of the NRA be taken serious after that ever again? How is that a viable solution? Its so obvious that the NRA would take every lie and scapegoat they find to strengthen their course.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Konstantin Hohl on 22nd December 2012 12:30pm
I know that internationally, the world govts are going to push for tighter gun laws anyways.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Nick Burcombe on 22nd December 2012 3:20pm
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/118/02un09.jpg
until then, push left trigger - right trigger for simulated conflict resolution.
What I don't understand is why anyone would want to own let alone carry around any form of gun. If I had one at my house I would be petrified there would be an accident with it and kids or someone else. Do people in the USA actually feel so unsafe that they want to carry one around?
Humans are emotional creatures and everyone goes through periods of mental instability. When this occurs people react based on a number of factors including the items that are around them. Having easy access during these periods to guns is always bound to lead to additional fatalities... and getting people to decide to harm those around them rather than something else.
Australia definitely has a serious issue with teen suicide. If guns were as available as they are in the USA I have no doubt a percentage of those affected would decide to hurt others instead.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Michael Shamgar on 23rd December 2012 7:17am
The main educated "video games are bad" position is that video games teach shooters not to stop and be horrified at one death, but to move from target to target shooting until you run out of ammunition. Thus "training" killers to continue to make higher and higher kill rates.
The second point that has been used is statements from key individuals from within the games industry that interactivity is the most powerful, expressive and immersive medium mankind has ever created. Industry figures often say how important our medium is because of how much it can impact our audience emotionally *more* then films, books and music. These words are often cited against us; "If the medium can impact us positively, they can certainly impact us negatively" and go on to state that this is evidence that we understand *exactly* how much we influence children/people and why the industry should be "blamed" and held accountability over other mediums.
The third is that "soft" kind of science of the worst kind that highlights that stress balls / punching bags actually don't alleviate any symptoms of anger and actually exacerbate it. So video games when played to "vent" have been shown to increase anger and violent tendencies over any passive activity like watching a film or reading a book. Weaker forms of this argument often involve brain scans of people playing video games showing their aggressive centres are active, but these are being used less regularly as reading violent fiction (and the bible) has shown to also produce the exact same result (and in one trial even looney toons cartoons did as well).
Anyone who is going to battle publicly or legally about this sort of topic must have prepared answers for these points. The above are their best weapons.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Shane Sweeney on 24th December 2012 3:33am
FPS games are enjoyed by many people because we are all inherently violent by nature. You can do the old 'but we have all evolved' but if you actually think about it we aren't as evolved as we like to think. We all try to kid ourselves and think we are intelligent, rational individuals but as I know from experience; change the circumstances and people will revert to old biological programming very quickly.
http://cheezburger.com/45935617
I would normally write my opinion but the video above covers nearly everything.
Merry Christmas und Frohe Weihnachten;
I can only imagine the NRA will advocate armed guards for fire engines and police cars too...
http://youtu.be/nCRf1bDCVdM
There are unstable people and criminals in every country around the world who are capable of killing or wounding people, whether it's with a knife, a replica sword, a car or a gun. But having guns, particularly rapid firing weapons with large ammo clips like the assault rifle used in Newtown, makes it a lot easier to kill large numbers of people in a short time.
The fact is that the murder rate in the US is four times higher than in any other first world country. It's hard to argue that easy access to guns and ammunition isn't at least part of the reason why.
Using LaPierre's own logic, sure - let's have a database made up of potentially unstable people that go through a tight screening process for any signs of mental illness. Once judged unfit, they're to be kept away from purchasing, owning or using firearms. Add violent movies and games to that no-buy list and hey, why not keep them away from anything and everything that can be used as a weapon while we're at it? Just in case they get overstimulated looking at a fluffy cloud in the shape of a spiked club and feel the urge to do someone in.
Provided he and every NRA member steps up first to be screened as a mandatory part of membership, I'm OK with this. You know, just to be SURE they're just fine upstanding citizens..
Yes of course, I know that's NOT going to happen for any number of good legal and other reasons, but I'd say someone needs to show this man what a slippery slope actually looks like before he slides right off the cliff he's created.
Guns in itself are a special problem in the USA: a cultural problem to be exact. There are gun laws and illegal arm sales like everywhere else in the world. But in America guns are part of the culture. Many claim that the constitution was always meant to grant them the right to have a weapon at home. This isn’t the wild west any more and the founding fathers wrote all this very long ago. As time changed maybe its time to change some things. The problem here is that this part is so deeply rooted in American history and culture that it is giant task to accomplish any change at all. Until that time the USA will always have the highest casualty rate in shootings.
That being said: 100% security is impossible. There will always be shootings, mad people and genius maniacs who build a bomb in a kitchen.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Jason Schroder on 28th December 2012 9:55pm
Weapons at one point or another have been deeply rooted in almost all the worlds cultures. Whether Australians glorify bush rangers like Ned Kelly or the Japanese glorifying Samurai and sword combat.
American's aren't *more* rooted in weapons culturally. They just remain *STILL* rooted in weapons culturally whereas most of the developed nations have moved on.
Here are some of this character's other public fumbles over the last 15 years-taken from wikipedia you may find mildly amusing.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/11/us/letter-of-resignation-sent-by-bush-to-rifle-association.html
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950518&slug=2121718
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/19/weekinreview/march-12-18-guns-don-t-kill-people-presidents-do.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/20/us/nra-stands-by-criticism-of-president.html