Blaming Video Games for Real World Violence

With the recent shootings in Washington, here in Canada we had a fair amount of coverage of the situation and events surrounding it. Evan Solomon, host of Power and Politics, was interviewing a guy (can't remember his name for the life of me) who was very pro-gun and had even started "Gun Appreciation Day." This guy asked Solomon if he was at his place of work, wouldn't he feel more comfortable and safe knowing that he could defend himself and his coworkers with a gun he brought to work? Solomon's answer was, and I'm paraphrasing here, "I'd rather live and work in a society where no one brings guns anywhere."

I don't think I need to go into any sort of discussion about gun control in the States; it's clear that something needs doing, and it's clear that even with folks armed people still get hurt and killed. I'm uncomfortable saying that this is an American problem, because it's not, there are plenty of people with plenty of guns in plenty of western nations with normal, healthy citizens and democracies. I can't really relate to the culture (and I'm not sure that's the right word) or history of gun ownership in the United States, so commenting on how intrinsic that seems to be (the right to bear arms, etc) to that idea of freedom is kind of like throwing stones.

I think gun control is needed no matter the situation, and I think recent shootings and attacks show that - not just in the US, not just in North America, but the world.

As to the role of mental health, that's where things get tricky.

From my perspective, saying these perpetrators are all disconnected from reality, off their rocker, etc etc etc, is far too easy. The moralistic part of me wants them to be punished and do their penance for their crimes, but the empathic part of me wants to help them with their problems. It's a huge minefield, the task of figuring out how aware these folks are and how criminally responsible, and no one ever gets off, but the system that deals with these people isn't working as well as it can. That's not a knock against any criminal justice systems (they have issues, not denying that either), but more of a comment on the fact that we simply don't always know what to do. Paraphrasing Eddie Izzard (and apologies if this is a bit morbid/bleak), you kill one person, they lock you up forever, you kill five people, they send you to Texas and put you in the electric chair, you kill twenty people, they put you in a padded room and look at you and take notes. The problem with screening is that nothing is perfect and mistakes will happen or people will slip through. And maybe someone doesn't have the issues that push them to do something extreme when they first buy a gun.

Society needs to open up and accept people more. We need to do away with the culture of fear and paranoia. That might make me a bleeding heart, but whatever, if we work towards an open, accepting, and tolerant environment, I think we'd see a lot more people coming forward and seeking help.

 

I will say that what scares me more than the availability of firearms is the argument that the best solution is "airquotes*good guys*airquotes" with more guns. Great. Tell you what, why don't you ask our troops who have been over in Afghanistan and Iraq how that works? You know, people who actually have to walk around armed to the teeth and ready to shoot a random stranger in the crowd drawing a weapon on them? I'm betting they'd rather not have that as part of their daily life. Going around with your head at Condition 1 ready to draw and fire at all times is not a good thing.

"Doesn't matter who you are - you got a gun in your face, chances are good you'll do what the other man says. Only two types don't buckle at that point - trained killers, and psychopaths. Lot of people can't tell the difference." - Zaeed Massani, Mass Effect 2

 

The "good guy" argument falls apart because seriously you can't assign a moral high ground to situations like that. The folks fighting against American, Canadian, British, Japanese, Israeli, whatever troops probably feel like their cause is just and that they're the good guys.

Hell, shouldn't it be basically a human right in our so-called developed democracies that we can walk around without having to worry about everyone packing heat for "self-defence?"

...I'm getting a little ranty here, but do people also not realize that guns are not designed to wound? Cops and military aren't trained to wound to incapacitate, they're trained to put down targets and make sure they don't get back up - because if it's at the point where you're firing your gun, **** has gotten pretty extreme.

 

In case of a mass shooting, I can see the "good guys with guns" scenario going down like this:

1) Shots fired in crowd; panic and confusion spreads.
2) Gun-toting civilians draw their weapons and look for the gun-toting civilian who fired the shots. Any armed law enforcement officers do the same.
3) Charlie-Foxtrot ensues.

 

you also forgot castro and the last president of iran.