I’ve never been a big believer in all the people who are always pointing to Hollywood and our violence-drenched entertainment industry as a potential root cause for the gun shootings that consistently make headlines.
I’m starting to change my mind.
A story today from CBS News paints a troubling picture of Adam Lanza, the deranged young man who killed 26 people - including 20 innocent children - in a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. The mass shooting again shook the nation to its core and sparked new conversations about guns and violence.
A lot of people are demanding new gun control measures. Not as much attention has focused on the entertainment industry. Maybe that needs to change.
CBS is reporting that Lanza would spend hours in the basement of his home playing a “trove” of violent video games. It makes you wonder if Lanza had lost the ability to differentiate between his fantasy shooting sessions in that basement, and the all-too-real horror he would unleash on Sandy Hook Elementary School.
I guess we’ll never know.
But I think it’s time we found out. And maybe thought about all the reasons and causes for violence in society. Do I think we have too many guns in the hands of people who should not have them? Yes. Do I think it’s time to rethink the 2nd Amendment in terms of what it absolutely protects and whether or not assault weapons and high-capacity rifle magazines should be included in that? Yes again.
But I also am beginning to think it’s time we start to look at a connection between entertainment and the make-believe world of video game violence, and the reality of killing people. When you shoot real people with real guns, they don’t get back up when you reboot.
Let’s include that in the conversation.
Comments
A few years back I stopped taking my son to a church youth group because they spent a significant amount of their time during the youth group sessions playing shoot them up type video games. I did not see this as healthy or helping a teenage boy develop his understanding of religion in his life. I thought they were sending the kids a flawed message, but groups like that youth group seem to feel to attract kids they needed to compromise the values they were trying to teach and discuss with kids. I did not agree with their approach, so he stopped attending.
I agree with your viewpoint that we need to look at what are legal arms per the 2nd amendment with particular focus on the size of ammunition clips and why a citizen may feel they have a need to own the same types of weapons our military uses for war.