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Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???
False
Government & Elections
Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???
<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">With elections coming up, there&rsquo;s no shortage of dialogue here. Whether you're a red state Republican or a blue state Democrat, everyone is welcome &mdash; just remember to be civil.</font>
&nbsp;Before the violent video game craze hit our Nation,&nbsp;from 1968 to 1980, - &nbsp;377,000&nbsp;people were killed by guns in the U.S. During&nbsp;the violent video game peak from&nbsp;1999 to
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Cat:d51398b3-89f9-463d-bf1b-4b885f02c9eeForum:af978875-5bc6-4b07-a6fb-b18062132f95
Cat:d51398b3-89f9-463d-bf1b-4b885f02c9eeForum:af978875-5bc6-4b07-a6fb-b18062132f95Discussion:bea81dc4-84a3-425e-8232-661c8e2060e6

Forums » Politics & Society » Government & Elections » Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???

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Forums  »  Politics & Society  »  Government & Elections  »  Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???

Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???

posted at February 2, 2013 12:30 PM EST
Posts: 585
First: May 28, 2012
Last: May 15, 2013

 Before the violent video game craze hit our Nation, from 1968 to 1980, -  377,000 people were killed by guns in the U.S. During the violent video game peak from 1999 to 2010, -  364,000 people were killed by guns in our Nation. Do the math and its difficult to blame video games for this madness and slaughter of human beings.
  I'm not buying the NRA's rhetoric that its the violent video games fault and that the out of control gun deaths has nothing to do with the 300,000,000 guns floating around out there. I'm a responsible gun owner, who is demanding change along the lines of what the Obama Administration is advocating.( Registration and background checks for ALL gun purchases and banning over 10 round  capacity magazines ).
   These statistics were provided by Mark Shields of PBS and confirmed by Politifact.

Re: Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???

posted at February 6, 2013 12:36 AM EST
Posts: 3023
First: March 2, 2008
Last: May 19, 2013
I believe that violent games, movies and music lyrics have some effect on the increase in deaths by guns. However, I remember my brother playing cowboys and Indians with the neighborhood boys. He had guns that he proudly put in a holster around his waist. It didn't make him a violent person. He loved action films and boxing on TV, but never beat anyone to the point of hospitalization. There were some fights on the playground, but that was it. 

It seems today that there's a lack of self-control and discipline in people who can't deal with anger issues without a physical confrontation. Perhaps it makes them feel more powerful if they can overpower another person. I believe that a decade of wars has brought a violent mentality to those who are prone to it after seeing us killing "terrorists" in their lands. It makes no sense because these people did nothing to attack us, but we invaded them. Who can forget the night when prime time TV brought us the invasion of Iraq as we bombed Baghdad? Politicians have instilled a lot of anger in us. 

Criminals are another issue because they have absolutely no conscience or respect for others. Whether they beat a person to death or shoot them, it's from an evil nature inside of them. The thugs who beat, raped and killed the woman in India had no reason to do so except that it brought them a sense of pleasure for the moment. 

Re: Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???

posted at February 6, 2013 9:52 AM EST
Posts: 530
First: August 9, 2011
Last: May 14, 2013
Yes I agree with you, but these days instead of kids putting toy guns around their waist it is adults putting real guns there.  Instead of fights on play grounds it's beginning to be gun fights.  I had a neighbor who's daughter was dating a man who carried a gun everywhere he went.  He boasted how he wasn't going anywhere without it when the girl was nervous about him carrying the weapon everywhere.  Well in a bout of road rage a while back he got so mad at another driver he pulled the gun on the fellow and the other fellow pulled his gun, only the other fellow was an off duty police officer.  Needless to say he has no gun anymore after he got out of jail on bond and is awaiting to go to trial.  He's lucky, what if he shot the off duty policeman.  Just like the thugs in India it's not only pleasure but the power people feel they have over another person that makes them do the things they do.  Ever been in line such as at a gas station and the person in front of you takes his/her good old sweet time moving to let you get gas after they long finished pumping theirs?   That's a power play and if you dare blow your horn you just might get a gun pulled on you. 


In Response to Re: Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???:
I believe that violent games, movies and music lyrics have some effect on the increase in deaths by guns. However, I remember my brother playing cowboys and Indians with the neighborhood boys. He had guns that he proudly put in a holster around his waist. It didn't make him a violent person. He loved action films and boxing on TV, but never beat anyone to the point of hospitalization. There were some fights on the playground, but that was it.  It seems today that there's a lack of self-control and discipline in people who can't deal with anger issues without a physical confrontation. Perhaps it makes them feel more powerful if they can overpower another person. I believe that a decade of wars has brought a violent mentality to those who are prone to it after seeing us killing "terrorists" in their lands. It makes no sense because these people did nothing to attack us, but we invaded them. Who can forget the night when prime time TV brought us the invasion of Iraq as we bombed Baghdad? Politicians have instilled a lot of anger in us.  Criminals are another issue because they have absolutely no conscience or respect for others. Whether they beat a person to death or shoot them, it's from an evil nature inside of them. The thugs who beat, raped and killed the woman in India had no reason to do so except that it brought them a sense of pleasure for the moment. 
Posted by intersan

Re: Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???

posted at February 10, 2013 5:52 PM EST
Posts: 58
First: May 26, 2012
Last: May 19, 2013
Psychological research on human empathic response are out there.  The results are interesting and illuminating, but not authoritative.  Humans can be conditioned, just like any other biological organism, using the appropriate techniques under appropriate circumstances.  "Right and wrong" may or may not influence empathic response. 

Consider though, empathy restrains most people from directly harming another without purpose.....and that impulse frequently extends to other beings as well.  That restraint generally exists prior to  the actual experience of having caused harm to another and experienced the consequences.  Doesn't always work that way, though. 

The military uses extensive conditioning to overcome that empathic response and de-sensitize its members to the consequences of the violence necessary to their mission.  

This matter delves into physiological functions of the human brain and how memory is acquired and stored.. Before you draw any conclusions, you really should dig deeply. Some data is good......some bad.....some gratuititously self-serving.   Statistics compliled to serve an agenda just won't do.  Motives behind why some act as they do are as diverse as the people who commit the act. By and large, generalities can only be applied to a huge data base taken as a whole and won't hold up well applied to any one individual or small group of individuals.......the validity just isn't there.

Forums » Politics & Society » Government & Elections » Are Violent Video Games Really To Blame For Gun Deaths ???