Do you think video games promote guns and gun violence?

[cynatnite]

13 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	2 (15%)
	No
	10 (77%)
	I don't know
	0 (0%)
	Other
	1 (8%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[zipplewrath]

1. They don't create it.

These games don't "cause" violence, they reveal our cultural tendency for committing it.

[bayareamike]

7. I agree.

They're a reflection of our culture, not the cause of it. Same goes with violent movies, sports, etc. IMHO.

[zipplewrath]

10. And the 2nd is a reflection of our history

And much of it a very violent history. If we are to move forward from this point, we have to both acknowledge that we have this past, and that we no longer want it. We have to choose to become the peaceful culture we tend to believe that we are. But we can't get there by denying our past or trying to have it both ways. We either believe that violence is a solution to problems, or we reject that and begin to choose solutions that eschew violence.

It would seem that this is an incredible opportunity. We are getting ready to celebrate the birth of a savior who came without sword or army. We have just built a memorial to a man who preached nonviolence, and gave his life in its service. Surely, with these and other examples we can find a society we'd prefer to be, and to move towards it.

[TwilightGardener]

2. I honestly don't know. While I don't think they help an

already-disturbed mind, I don't think they would make a mentally healthy person snap either. Hard to say how much they're a factor--but since almost all young men play them sometimes (judging by my own kids and their peers), it's certainly not surprising that the CT shooter played them.

[TwilightGardener]

9. I will say, also thinking of my own sons, that the interest in

ACTUAL guns is strong among rural/suburban teens and young men. Almost all of my son's friends, in our rural former town, lived in households with multiple guns. Prairie dog shooting, rabbit shooting, deer hunting, gun collecting--guns were a huge fascination that even my own kids got caught up in for a time. It scared the shit out of me--I was always concerned when my kids went over other kids' houses.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. I think they promote the fantasy of gun violence. Same as the movies do. n/t

[Comrade_McKenzie]

4. Does it matter? The problem is that it's as easy to buy a gun as a video game. nt

[backscatter712]

5. Certainly not enough to justify an attack on the First Amendment.

Limbaugh's already howling about video games - the classic right-wing/NRA attempt to derail the conversation from where it belongs - on the easy access to massive firepower in this country.

[bayareamike]

6. I've grown up in the video game generation

and have played several shooters, a few competitively in tournaments. I'd say that in general they do not. However, I would concede that for a few individuals, perhaps those prone to violence and aggression already, they have the potential for promoting it or desensitizing the user to violent imagery and actions.

That said, myself and everyone I know who play first person shooters are certainly not more violent because they play them.

[Odin2005]

8. I see the sane majority is ahead of the pearl-clutchers.