White House calls for research on the effect of media and video games in gun violence

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

White House calls for research on the effect of media and video games in gun violence
By Associated Press,
Updated: Wednesday, January 16, 2:28 PM

NEW YORK — Hollywood and the video game industry received scant attention Wednesday when President Barack Obama unveiled sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.

The White House pressed most forcefully for a reluctant Congress to pass universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.

No connection was suggested between bloody entertainment fictions and real-life violence. Instead, the White House is calling on research on the effect of media and video games on gun violence.

Among the 23 executive measures signed Wednesday by Obama is a directive to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and scientific agencies to conduct research into the causes and prevention of gun violence. The order specifically cited “investigating the relationship between video games, media images and violence.”


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/white-house-calls-for-research-on-the-effect-of-media-and-video-games-in-gun-violence/2013/01/16/2d92d182-601b-11e2-9dc9-bca76dd777b8_story.html

[Drale]

1. Let them do as many studies as they want

they will find out, just like everyone else who has done unbiased studies, that violence in video games and movies does not cause violence. Its amazing that Detroit and Canada both pay the same games and watch the same movies and are right across the river from each other and Canada has such a lower violence rate its not even funny. (Unfortunately I don't have real numbers because I am posting from my phone right now.)

[Flatpicker]

8. Do you really think

that the study will be unbiased?

The gun lobby has too much money in play to not make something else the scapegoat.

It'll just be more blood on the hands of the people in power while they waste time looking everywhere else rather than at the real problem.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Meanwhile,

the real problem, a country awash in guns, goes unaddressed.

Every other Western Nation has the same access to the same violent movies and video games, yet it is ONLY the U.S. that has mass shootings with such frequency.

[Locrian]

3. advertising

Maybe not an influence on gun violence. But sure as sh*t it's an influence on the desire to have a gun.

Every hero of tv/movie/video games has a gun. It's 24/7 advertising - just like cigarettes in movies, product placement, etc.

If we're worried about a nation awash in guns, the nonstoff *selling* of them (ie portraying them as the tools of power etc) and glorification of them has to be part of the equation.


People think it's the violence - people generally dont want to be the BAD guy, unless they have 'problems'. They want to be the GOOD guy and 'save' everyone with their power. That (in most movies/tv/games) means having the 'best' and 'coolest' (not my words) guns.

[KoKo]

4. +1!

[Enrique]

6. "not an influence on gun violence, but an influence on the desire to have a gun"

the government should be addressing the gun violence, it should put regulating people's desires as a low priority.

[Locrian]

9. i dont want gov regulation

but you have to have the discussion as a responsible society it you want to continue having freedoms.

Billions in advertising say that if you create fear, desire etc you sell MORE shi*t. Guns get free 24/7 plugs in movies/tv/etc. If we have a problem with a country 'awash in guns' then we need to address this as a potential cause of that effect.

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. I like violent video games...

I like violent video games, violent movies, porn, alcohol, tobacco, guns, and other stuff.

None of it should be banned.

People who harm others, or threaten to harm others should be punished, that is all that can and should be done.

[ButterflyBlood]

7. Just about everyone at my work plays violent video games

Guess how many people at my work have shot someone?

[xoom]

10. Just about everyone at my work has a gun in their home,

Guess how many people at my work have shot someone?

[ButterflyBlood]

12. I don't think all gun owners are unhinged and likely to go on a shooting spree

In fact I don't have an inherent problem with gun ownership at all.

[Paladin]

11. So After All These Years, The CDC Will Again Be Able To Do Gun Research.

That's a nice blow against NRA political storm-trooping. Who knows---maybe the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms will once again have a Director, after six years without one. The gun lobby's malignant influence needs some serious restrictions.