Gamer Community Unhappy With NRA Statements

A CBS newscast from Dallas got the thoughts of someone in the gaming world in the wake of the NRA's statements toward violent games.

[MariaHelFutura]

I love the picture.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Good for this guy.
Nice to hear the gamers opinions for once instead of just the people that constantly oppose them.

[SilentNegotiator]

I'll say it again because I absolutely never tire of it; Neither guns or games are responsible.

All studies that have "concluded" that video games cause violence have had glaring holes. I believe the most recent one took place over the course of LESS than a week. They tested (without a control) how people playing violent games and sports titles would have a character in a story solve issues. The violent game players chose more violent solutions more frequently. But then here's your biggest hole; HOW DOES THAT TRANSLATE to these people making more violent decisions in REAL LIFE?!?

There are a few problems with blaming guns. One, you're ignoring human nature if you place a disproportional amount of blame on the type/caliber of weapon. Several attacks in China have taken place in schools with just knives, one man claiming 8 children, another seriously injuring about 20. In the UK, you're twice as likely to be victim of knife crime than you are gun crime in the US. Point being violence is universal. Second, the worst school attacks involved no gun deaths, such as the Bath disaster (a gun was used only to ignite a bomb). Home chemicals can make much more dangerous of weapons. Third, while other countries might have lower violent crime rates, you aren't going to get rid of 300M guns - and states with lower restrictions tend to have lower violent crime rates.

You can't blame guns for causing violence, you can't blame guns for allowing violence, and you can't blame the irreversible existence of guns in the US for violence.

The real issues are that we don't address loners and mentally ill well enough and we don't have security in all schools. These mass murders just about always are loners or mentally ill. We have several, several anti-bullying groups that tend to focus on LGBT groups. However, we barely/don't address making everyone, of all groups and stature, social and not feeling left out. And among all the sweating schools do over funds, there is rarely basic attention to testing for psychological issues.

Schools need to be secured. We can't tightly pack our children into a building 7 (or so) hours a day and not have security. Security is necessary at ALL grade levels, not just HS/college/University. It isn't even an issue of "armed guards"....just security in general to watch for suspicious activity and such.

[iamnsuperman]

But tighter guns laws means less gun related deaths. You use the UK as an example it is true you are more likely to get stabbed than shot but it is also more likely that a mass shooting is goin to occur to a mass stabbing. In the UK you can get certain guns. However it is so hard to get the license and once the licence is got strict rules have to be enforced and are checked. It has been a long time since a mass shooting/anything occured in the UK.

It is time the USA stop thinking like it was back when the law was introduced. There government needs to take a stand and just be like the rest of modern society and just make really strict rules. It will be benifital in the long run

I agree it is mentially unstable people who do this. However screening for metal illnesses isn't full proof and so a lot slip the cracks. A good solution is tight gun control. Some people just snap and have no sign of mental illnesses. Security in schools is fine but you need to stop turning the school into a prison and a more friendly enviornment to encorage learning. You need to just train teachers in awarness than having guards (especially armed ones. Disaterous idea). You just do not get this problem in the UK

[SilentNegotiator]

No guns =/= tighter gun laws.
No guns = no guns.
Like I said, 300M guns aren't going to simply be taken. You say the US can't think like when the law was introduced? I say YOU need to stop thinking in terms of OTHER countries; otherwise, you'll never see the US's situation in realistic light.

STRICTER GUN LAWS IS NOT A SOLUTION TO WHAT HAS ALREADY TRANSPIRED. The guns are out there. Trying to get rid of the worst of them will leave just criminals with the worst of them. Trying to restrict them in the future will not make existent guns evaporate.

The Sandy Hook shooter, Virginia tech guy, Bath killer, etc....they ALL had SEVERAL signs. You can't simply wave away that screening has "cracks" and ignore that making stricter gun laws also has "cracks"

"Security in schools is fine but you need to stop turning the school into a prison and a more friendly enviornment to encorage learning. You need to just train teachers in awarness than having guards (especially armed ones. Disaterous idea). You just do not get this problem in the UK"

1) I said NOT armed guards. I'm talking surveillance.

2) You want teachers to do what? Teach and survey hallways and the courtyards for serial killers?

3) Guards do not make schools "like prison". In HS, we had several guards (not armed, FFS) that were trained to spot suspicious behavior in and outside of the school. They were friendly and they did their job. If anything serious came up, they reported it and teachers were informed in seconds to pre-cautiously lock their doors (or whatever the case was) as opposed to the surprise at Sandy Hook. At university, we have a few guards and 2 or so police officers on duty, because the building is huge and large government, public buildings with massive amounts of people in it SHOULD have some security.

[iamnsuperman]

"Like I said, 300M guns aren't going to simply be taken. You say the US can't think like when the law was introduced? I say YOU need to stop thinking in terms of OTHER countries; otherwise, you'll never see the US's situation in realistic light."

Those guns don't have to disappear. Just stricter laws on how they are stored and having the person with the licence the only person to have acess to them. Also make it difficult to aquire a licence. If they do not like to store weapons safetly then they shouldn't be allowed to keep their weapons.

The truth of the matter is, it is insane to arm a population. It is essenstially a militia in a society that doesn't need one. You are trained to drive cars because they are quite dangerous to operate. But picking up a gun is quite easy to do and requires not training. Where is the logic there. It may take some time and it isn't going to be a solution that will solve things tomorrow. It will just lay the ground work that means in 50 years time you are not having multiple mass shootings in one life time.

It is time the USA realises that an armed population is an archaic idea. It isn't about stopping the next shooting as you said the guns are out there. It is stopping another generation having this problem and if you enforce stricter rules now, the amount of useable guns in circulation in the future will drop dramatically. Weapons do not last forever

At edit: 1. I can tell you know children/young adults will not like being watched on CCTV.
2. It is part of the teachers job to see bad signs. They are there to not only teach but look after student well being. They do not need to patrol just do their job in classes.
3. I had security at my universty. But they are not there to look after students. Just maintence of a public building (as it is a public building). Schools is a different matter. I have been to schools (through childhood and on work placements- training to become a teacher) and no security guard is needed. The teachers do that part as it is their job (again) for student well being. Security gards give off a bad vibe for schools which should be a fun and happy enviornment which is hard if you hae securty guards around the place (obviously it would be a alot worse if they were armed)

[SilentNegotiator]

"It is time the USA realises that an armed population is an archaic idea"

Actually, thinking that the government has your best interests at hand and thus should be the only one with weapons is archaic thinking. We threw that one out with "divinely" chosen government centuries ago. We need social change, not bigger government.

BTW, coming from a country that has CCTV and a phobia of civilians, I'm surprised that the idea of surveillance in schools seems so strange and prison-like to you.

"2. It is part of the teachers job to see bad signs. They are there to not only teach but look after student well being. They do not need to patrol just do their job in classes"

HOW THE HECK does that protect them from people that might threaten the school?!? Teachers are TEACHING, not watching for threatening people! Get the trope of big, mean guards with assault rifles out of your brain! They're just people watching for trouble (not even just "shooter" sorts of trouble...squabbling students, truants, etc)! Normal, friendly people!

EDIT:
You think democracy is working. How adorable.

[iamnsuperman]

*now (on my comment)

"Actually, thinking that the government has your best interests at hand and thus should be the only one with weapons is archaic thinking. We threw that one out with "divinely" chosen government centuries ago"

You do realise how democracy works right? They should have your best interests at heart as you voted for there policies. Well it wouldn't be a problem if the USA didn't have 300million guns in circulation. You wouldn't need to arm all the USA's police force if the population wasn't armed (look at the UK we have an armed repsonse unit for the police and that is it. They are essetially the UK SWAT). It is archaic to have an armed public because why are they armed. Your goverment is there to protect you and your country's interests. If they don't you vote them out.

@ edit: "HOW THE HECK does that protect them from people that might threaten the school?!? Teachers are TEACHING, not watching for threatening people! "

Well they are there to watch out for children well being. Teaching isn't just teaching and then home for the day. From a family of teaches I can tell you that is a rubbish teacher. Also for the random guy coming into the school and shoptig up the place. You wouldn't have that problem if the population wasn't armed/ loose gun laws. There isn't a great deal in cultural differences between the UK and the USA ( which is why we get on so well) so you have to look at the UK. Why haven't we had a mass shooting in recent years especially in schools? We have ourfair share of mental unstable people. I can't find the figure but pressure groups think more of us are mentally unstable but are not diagnosed until it is too late becuase there are no signs

[Burackus]

Thank you, finally someone with some since, im so sick off hear about games blaming guns and guns blaming games when neither are to blame ITS FREAKING PEOPLE ARE TO BLAME, PARENTS, SOCIETY,you could take both guns and games out and this kind of sad thing would still happen.

[FreshRevenge]

Okay I have few issues with your comment. Attacking loners as being the only perpertrators who commit crimes is absurd. Being shy doesn't make you a convict or a criminal.

Not every one needs 10,000 friends to be socially adept. Putting loners in this negative category isn't acceptable. Many historical figures that helped paved our way were loners. There are loners that are perfectly content on being alone.

We don't need our schools turning into prisons. People will start turning to homeschool instead if that is the case.

[madpuppy]

Just for the record, The United States of America is NOT a Democracy....It's a Republic. it was founded a republic and it still is a republic.

It amazes me that there are US citizens out there that don't even know that fundamental aspect of their own government.

[Ravenor]

Loved this, and really enjoyed how you pointed out that not all games are fit to be consumed by anyone of any age and that parents need to be far more proactive in monitoring what their kids play.

[dragonyght]

yeah he should also have mention about the parent control option available on the system. i think that was a missed

[OriginalPSP]

99.9 percent of what I said wasn't in a 2 minute story. That was mentioned... just didn't make the cut.

[titans9999]

The problem once again, is not video games. The problem is the kids and parents combined. The shooter was alone in his parents basement, doing God knows what, and it seemed odd to people that visited the family...ummm....hello....no wonder!!! Parents, time to start blaming yourself instead of external factors which are nothing but a distraction to your failed parenthood!!!!!

[TekoIie]

The problem is no one wants to take the blame and there are a LOT of parents who will try to find something to shift the blame to.

[jeeves86]

The problem wasn't necessarily that the shooter was alone in his mother's basement, it's that he had a serious personality disorder.

[deadfrag]

The problem in Usa is the stupid legislation,the problem is not games,the real problem is stupid guys like this that support weapon sales just for profit and come and blame video games because he knowns is multi.. profit is about to stop!Its time!This is not the western days anymore!

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

Can hardly blame them though. People are trying to blame the NRA for Newtown and it's not their fault. When the killer tried to buy a weapon he was denied, hence the law did what it was meant to do. How is it the NRA's fault that he then stole some guns to do the shooting?

If someone is that hell bent on killing someone, not being able to access a gun wouldn't stop them. This would be an entirely different topic had the killers in these recent shootings used pipe bombs or some other device.

[SilentNegotiator]

Exactly. Everyone is calling for tighter sales, but he DIDN'T BUY IT. He stole it from someone perfectly competent in owning firearms.

Should she have shared time at the firing range with her son, however? Probably not.

[iamnsuperman]

Still need tougher guns laws. How did this guy know where they were to steal them? Also why weren't these weapons secured safetly? Tighter guns laws doesn't neccesserly mean do not sell guns. It is how they are stored and locked away so no-one can steal them. Also getting the local police to make sure that they are stored safetly

[jeeves86]

@iamnsuperman - it doesn't matter how tough the gun laws are. There will always be a constant and steady supply of illegal guns to purchase when legally purchasing guns becomes too difficult. It's easier for many, many people to buy a gun off the street than it is to buy one legally. If that illegal gun supply were cut off completely, then the stricter gun laws would make sense, were the second-amendment champions willing to let you take one punctuation mark away from their right to bear arms.

Getting the police to check on every gun-owner's storage policy is a waste of taxpayer dollars once you realize just how many people own guns.

The fact of the matter is, in the United States, if you want a gun, criminal or not, sane or not, you're going to find one.

[level 360]

Strict background and especially mental checks on the entire family members ( and not just the owner/s ) by the proper authorities should really be the norm if you can't control their lust for gun ownership.

They should also question why some people need to own a huge armory of weapons unless the person in question is an avid gun collector/restorer.

[krazykombatant]

This. In my opinion if they want to keep their guns fine, but those that have family members who suffer from ANY type of mental illness or disability should not be allowed to have a weapon in their house.

[jakmckratos]

Fuck the NRA. It's real guns that murder people everyday. The vast majority of people are able to distinguish that guns in games are fictionalized. The problem is that they're incredibly accessible and maybe if this kid didn't have a military grade, semi automatic then it wouldnt have been as easy as it was to do what he did. Maybe he wouldnt have gone through with it at all.I'm sick of the NRA blaming fiction for real-llife situation brought about by the ease of purchasing a gun. I play God of War and you don't see me going out to the local pound and slicing off dog heads claiming them to be cerburus nor am I dressed like an anthropomorphic raccoon at night sneaking into people's houses and stealing their shit like Sly Cooper.

[MonopolyRSV]

The main purpose of guns isn't to guard against criminals, it's to guard against the government. Now reevaluate your position.

[ATi_Elite]

I support our right to bear arms and protect ourselves from a Corrupt and Unjust Government but I DO NOT support the NRA.

They are just a Cult of Crazy Theological believers and people ignorant and racist towards others who do not share the same genetics as them!!!

Video Gamers unite and defend our Hobby cause Video Games are NEVER the root of Evil or Violence in our Society.

The problems of our Society have been around and is much greater than anything powered by Electricity but those who fail or don't want to address those issues just want to use Hollywood, Books, video Games, and what ever is next as a COP OUT!!

Happy Gaming!!!