U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to meet with video game industry reps to discuss gun violence

Polygon writes:

"In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, Vice President Biden and his task force are examining legislation that would ban assault rifles while also looking into the role of violent movies and video games in the mass shootings."

[SilentNegotiator]

Banning one-type of semi-automatic weapon and restricting video games.
PROBEM SALVED, MERICA.
/s

There's still a major lack of scientific connection between game violence and tendency towards ACTUAL violence.
They're always doing tests like (2 actual examples) seeing how long a person honks a horn or if they'll come up with more violent solutions for a FICTIONAL character to solve a problem.

[PopRocks359]

The problem is a lack of knowledge and education, I think. Or at least the start of it. I do believe in some amount of gun control, as in making it a little less easy for the average Joe to buy one off the street.

[Seraphim]

the problem is the media. Monkey see, monkey do. Want 5 minutes of fame? Grab a gun and shoot some place up then kill yourself leaving nothing but questions for the media to talk about for the following weeks...

In all honesty there is no real solution to the problem at the hand. The background checks and waiting periods are suffice. If someone wants a gun they will go find one. In many instances it seems the guns being used are not in fact owned by the crazy prick shooting up the place. And you sure as hell can't screen mental health. Even a nut who's depressed, suicidal, etc can easily get around some questionably ethic test should one be implemented. Quite frankly a good start to solving this problem is not reporting it & covering it for weeks, months of New Channels.

[morganfell]

Is he going to meet with the auto alcohol industry since traffic fatalities kill more people than handguns every year. Oh wait, no political grandstanding in that venture and it doesn't make him feel safer about taking other people's hard earned money.

[insomnium2]

@Seraphim

How about a total ban on handguns. Make it a $10k fine (for the poor) and a $1000k fine for the rich AND a year in prison should you ever be seen carrying a handgun ANYWHERE.

I would like to see what would happen to the gun crimes.

If it doesn't help ban all the guns (rifles included) and double the fines and jailtime.

I like dishing out penalties to stupid folks.

[Nodoze]

Insomnium it appears YOU are the stupid folk here. Why should law abiding people who carry firearms for their protection be imprisoned and fined.

You would make a fine Nazi. For that is exactly what they did to people.

NEWS at 11 Spoons make people fat!!

[Scizz]

@Seraphim The internet eliminates the chance of it not being reported.

[ifistbrowni]

my argument has been the same for this for awhile now:

Canada and the U.K. watch/play the same stuff as us americans and listen to *almost* the same music. To say that any media sources have anything to do with mass shootings is silly (to me).

I hardly hear (practically never) of mass shootings in canada/u.k. meanwhile in america it is a by-weekly thing; the only real difference: gun laws.

Now all you pro-gunnies can come in and say how taking our guns away is against the constitution, but no-where in this post do i actually say "take our guns," i just think there needs to be some major restrictions like:

All magazines/clips (?) that hold more than 5 bullets are extremely illegal. If you need more than 5 shots for hunting or self defense, you shouldn't have passed the required test for a fire-arm.

^Epic wall of text, that no one will read.

Not that i care about disagrees, but it'd be interesting to hear why. Not looking to argue, just would find it educational to hear "the opposing side of the argument"

[3GenGames]

Guns are for defense from criminals or in a situation where your life is in danger, along with hunting. If I'm on my roof while my house is getting attacked because my house has supplies in a mass shortage, I need to be able to defend it adequately. Standing on the roof with an 30 round AR-15 would be MINIMUM to defend myself. Actually, it may be too small even. A SAW would be more adequate. So why can't I own these? It's my legal right.

But still, maybe another reason is Canada has better care for mentally ill, and has less population concentration. Yeah, didn't want to touch on that because those are two key factors as well.

The guy that just killed 4 more people in Aurora, Colorado went on a rampage, until he met an officer with an AR-15. There was only one more bullet fired, and that's his into his skull. For a reason.

[SilentNegotiator]

Mass killers like the one at Sandy Hook and Aurora (the main arguments being used to increase US gun control) are prepared. Restricting it to 5 bullets would just mean that they pack an extra magazine in their clip belt.

(EDIT: Uhh.....someone do me a favor. Check if I have 4 comments. Maybe I snapped, but I don't see 4 comments. Just 3. Awwww, maaaaan; I think I missed out on a bubble because when I tried to post one of my comments I got a "something went wrong" message)

[Soldierone]

Assault rifles are a right for protection against the government. If I trust my government, I'd gladly let that right go. With the way things are going, do I honestly want to let that happen? You also have to look at the bigger picture. If taking rights away were so easy, they will do it more often.

I'm not saying everyone needs assault rifles, but there is a reason for the right to be there. You also have to look at all mass killings. There are several that only dealt with bombs and knifes. One of the biggest in history was a person at a school that carefully set up bombs and only used a gun to kill two people and set off the explosives. When people are lunatics, insane, or mentally ill, they will find ways to kill people. Assault rifle or not, it will happen. People need to remember there was already an assault rifle ban, it didn't do anything.

We just ignores alternate routes and instead the politicians take the easy way out by blaming something other than themselves. What they should be doing is taking steps. Take better care of mentally ill, get news in a more positive light, make a better society and give better protection. If none of that works, then jump to conclusions of assault rifles.

[MAJ0R]

The government attempting or threatening to create new laws like this will only make more and more guns sell, thus increasing the amount of guns civilians own. It will be hell trying to take away their guns if a ban does go into effect. You can be sure there will be retaliation by law-abiding citizens who's government attempts to seize their guns. That's why it will never happen. THIS is the way the people who founded America intended. Civilians are in control, not the government.

The absolute most that would happen is a ban on new sales of guns. Even that would be awkward because how would you prevent used gun sale of millions of weapons that have over 5 bullet magazines?

[Qrphe]

Actually, the initial intent when writing the second amendment was so that citizens could at any moment assemble and take action against an oppresive domeatic regime. With that said, we need ways to buy grenades, tanks, jets, else we wouldn't stand a chance against a potential big brother!

[tachy0n]

how about ESRB does its job?!

check out this video of jesse ventura, everything he said here is true,
wake up people!!

[MidNite]

I only get on N4G on rare occasions to comment thank you, gotta tell you nice Video. I love Jesse Ventura he owned Pierce Morgan on his own show at the end!!!

[Kur0]

This country needs to support more mental health above all else. That guy who shot up those kids could've have gotten help before any of the happened. Mental health is a huge neglected issue in the US.

[InMyOpinion]

It's much easier to label them as "evil" and put them on death row.

[Nexgensensation]

Like really! I haven't seen a single "criminal" follow the law. Anytime I watch the news that involve guns like a mass murder, drive by, or a robbery of some sort, the criminal always seem to have a large amount of fire power!

Where does a criminal get all that fire power, with background screening, you must ask yourself how does a criminal get all that fire power?

BY BREAKING THE LAW OF COURSE! LOL

so what is gun control to a criminal compare to gun control to an average joe?

[GreenRanger]

Why doesn't he visit the irresponsible parents who buy violent games for their children and completely ignore the age ratings on the boxes?

[SilentNegotiator]

I just got a rather odd image of Joe Biden body slamming a few million parents. lol

[BoNeSaW23]

Any image of Joe Biden doing ANYTHING is odd.

[Double_O_Revan]

I was amazed when I worked at Gamestop at how many parents would walk to the counter with their 8-12 year olds with GTA in hand. It was only after I told them was the game entailed that they gave a dirty look at their kids and put it back.

But I wonder how often the person at the counter Doesn't explain and educate the parent and it slips by.

Plus, just go online with CoD for 5 mins and you'll realize that 80%+ of the people playing are 15 or younger. Parents are to blame. Stop pushing the blame elsewhere and start taking responsibility.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

cuz that's harder..

Billion dollar industry + america = not much will happen to it. They sell cigarettes and that is much worse.. More smokers than gun violence in america. Legal suicide.

[asmith2306]

I agree but what really pisses me off about these politicians is that they never seem to remember that humans were violent and psychotic way, way back before video games and violent media even existed. Violence is not a product of violent media, it's the other way around. Violent media is a product of us.

[Dan50]

Government can't outlaw/restrict video game sales/content SCOTUS said they are protected speech.

[CommonSense]

Just what we need...more government involvement in everything.

Biden is a liar, an idiot, a hypocrite, and a complete piece of shit (a politician, in other words). Keep him away from the industry!

[DivineAssault]

smh.. Theres already a rating scale so wtf is the big deal.. Parents need to step up their responsibility to not let underage children play violent games.. Nuff said.. BAD PARENTING

[LOGICWINS]

Theres nothing wrong with underaged well adjusted kids playing violent video games. My parents bought me every single MK game I wanted as kid. 17 years later, I've yet to rip out anyones spine. Exceptions to the rule are children who are mentally ill to the point that they can't distinguish fiction from reality.

[AO1JMM]

There is no connection between violence and violent videogames!

There might not even be a bad parenting connection either. This person might just be mentally disturbed.

[leetlegit]

Tired of government/news media trying to place blame on others or things. The blame goes on the individual committing the crime/ poor parenting. If they feel game media is the problem then perhaps parents can just do some quick research into the game their kid wants before buying it for them. Google the info on their smart phone... No amount of laws can replace irresponsible parenting or eliminate the crazies.

[BuffMordecai]

Just like everything government related, it will be a huge waste of time and tax dollars.

[LocutusEstBorg]

There is nothing to discuss. STFU and do your boring work. Go pick on violent movie producers first.

[MadMen]

Politicians stay out of our world, we are not to blame, the source is to blame. Stop always needing an answer or somewhere to place fault on.

A person acted this out, leave the blame where it belongs

[Ser]

Yeah, this is what needs to be dealt with. Never mind the tanking economy or anything. No, definitely pursue this violent video games thing instead.

I want to throw all politicians in a deep, dark hole and bury them there.

[DERKADER]

The main problem with gun violence is news and media outlets relentless coverage of it. Stop giving these killers the attention they wanted in the first place.

[MadMax]

Liberal for ya!

[DarkZane]

If you look at wikipedia for a list of shootings in USA, you will see a lot of them happened before 1980.

So I guess the ones that happened in the 1800s and early 1900s are also due to videogames.

Oh wait, they didn't exist in the first place back then. Hell, even from 1980 to 1990, you could say videogames weren't even realistic enough to be a cause to begin with.

[Soldierone]

They blame the lowest person on the totem pole. In the 60-80's it was music. Anything from rock music to heavy metal. Comic books were also creeping in there by the 70's till Marvel said "eff you guys" and created a rating system.

90's-Current is video games

Pre 60's was books

And before that it was whatever the biggest nimrod in the government could think of. Anything from witchcraft to hanging out with indians. If kids ever enjoyed doing chores I'm sure our government would find that offensive in some way too.

[Qrphe]

Soldierone is right, a group or industry that can't properly or convincinly defend itself to begin with is always a scapegoat. Aren't muslims blamed for 9/11? Aren't immigrants blamed for crime and the economy?

All false acusations are always based on ignorance and fear at the worst of crises when reasoning is muddled the most.

[Dms2012]

It couldn't possibly be wackadoos on psychotropic drugs with access to real guns, could it?

[Soldierone]

The excuse for stupid people is "it desensitizes" everyone. Well why isn't he going to Fox and CNN then? They constantly promote it all day!

Oh thats why, they are putting money into his pocket and video game companies are not. Once video game companies start "donating" money to these worthless politicians, the focus will change. Unless Hollywood ups their pay.

I've been saying lately. MILLIONS of people around the world play the SAME games and watch the SAME movies, wouldn't a will to kill people be way more widespread if it was the issue? It isn't. Hitler never played GTA or Call of Duty, but was still a lunatic.....

[OptimisticPrime]

Yeah..... FOX isn't putting money in Bidens pocket I guarantee you that...

[chrispseuphoria]

This definitely is concerning to me. Video Game Violence is not at fault. Look at other countries and the amount of gun related murders there are.

http://www.washingtonpost.c...

This chart made from the United Nations' foundings proves that the United States' laws are to blame. Call of Duty is extremely popular in the United Kingdom and yet out of every 0.1 per 100,000 people, there is gun related homicides. The US, however, is 30x that.

I am becoming sick of these accusations of video game violence affecting real life because that simply isn't the case.

[DeadlyFire]

I agree 1000%. Time to pull out a gun and deal with this problem.

Do you feel lucky punk?

:P

[Tonester925]

Look what happened when they Banned Alcohol. Mobs took over the industry underground and made millions! Now it's legal. Banned Marijuana - Drug Cartels from Mexico trying to get across the US border to drive sales.

Ban guns = Different weapons of choice such as BOMBS and SWORDS!

So and an So forth. People WILL find a way

[chrispseuphoria]

The problem is however, is that it's so easy for one nutjob to get a gun in the US. There needs to be something put in place to stop them from getting one. There doesn't need to be a 100% ban on them straight away. They'll have to ease in to it.

[Gimmemorebubblez]

Look I love in Africa and I dont need a gun. I guess if nobody had a gun than there would be less shootings. You are more likely to use a gun on someone you love than on any baddie.

[AtomicGerbil]

Who is he trying to impress by doing that? Because it's certainly not going to make the slightest difference regarding violent crime.

I'm surprised half these politicians have enough brain cells to function as a human let alone run a country.

[Scizz]

I hope he plans on talking to movie industry reps as well, and the representatives of the internet....(sarcasm)

[Shuyin]

America fucked itself up by allowing citizens to carry guns. Your bill of rights is shite. Sure, there are mass killings all over the world but how often? Like once in 5 - 10 years? Meanwhile every 2nd months I see news of another masacre in the USA. I'm glad I live in Europe. Looks much more civilized.
Don't get me wrong I love american products, such as food, movies and music but, imo, America was doomed from day one.

Bring on the hate, fellas, I can take it. Just stating an OPINION.

[Shuyin]

And by all over the world I mean western countries, not talibans who bomb themselves on a baily basis.