There are no studies that link violent video games to violent behavior in real life.
In truth, this surprises me. It seems somewhat counter-intuitive that shooting the head’s off increasingly realistic looking video game “people” doesn’t inure a player from feeling anything when someone’s head is blown off. But studies repeated find no evidence that those who behave violently – e.g., mass murderers – decided to do so because they were egged on by video games.
Don’t know if there are any studies on whether mass murderers become more accurate shooters because of their experience with video games. But I did read somewhere that the military trains recruits in use of weaponry with video games. Sort of like flight simulator for guns.
In any case, with the types of weapons that mass shooters deploy – guns that can fire off so many rounds in seconds – you may not need much by way of pinpoint accuracy to kill a ton of people.
The one correlation that does stand starkly out is that countries with lots of guns – that would be us – tend to lead the pack when it comes to mass murder.
USA! USA! We’re number one!
Walmart was the location of the El Paso rampage aimed at Mexicans. And Walmart, as it turns out, is one of the largest gun sellers in the world. Maybe even THE worldwide leader.
Not surprising. After all, after Amazon – and they’re not a retailer in quite the same sense as Walmart – Walmart is the world’s largest retailer.
Which doesn’t mean they have to be gunslingers.
A couple of decades ago, they stopped selling handguns, other than in Alaska. (I just checked online, and the handgun-ish things available from them are air or BB guns. They sure look like the real deal, but what do I know, gun-wise?)
In New Mexico, they don’t sell any weapons, a decision made because the company didn’t want to comply with New Mexico’s law on background checks.
Anyway, in response to the El Paso murders, Walmart decided to get “remove video game displays and other signs or videos that show violence.”
The move came as Republican leaders including President Trump and Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of Texas, have drawn a link between deadly shootings and video games, despite researchers’ conclusions that there is no strong connection.
Walmart has also faced pressure from Democratic politicians and supporters of gun control to end or limit its sale of guns. But there has been no change to the retailer’s gun sales policy, said Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Walmart. (Source: NY Times)
Oh, I see, remove displays that illustrate video game violence, but don’t do anything that makes it harder for folks to get their itchy little trigger fingers on guns and ammos. Sure makes sense to me. Not.
Not all Walmart employees are thrilled with this tactic. One was quoted as saying:
“It’s kind of funny that we can still sell firearms but we can’t show picture of a cartoon character holding a gun.”
Is this funny peculiar or funny ha-ha, as we used to say back in the day. (Just looked up this saying. Turns out it came from the kids’ show Beanie and Cecil, which began life as a puppet show before becoming a cartoon. I was around for the puppet version. And, let me tell you, turning 70 is going to be funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha.)
While the violent signs are out, this may not be a permanent situation. The Walmart spokesman stated:
“We’ve taken this action out of respect for the incidents of the past week, and it does not reflect a long-term change in our video game assortment,” he said. “We are focused on assisting our associates and their families, as well as supporting the community, as we continue a thoughtful and thorough review of our policies.”
The memo told employees to “review your store for any signing or displays that contain violent images or aggressive behavior.”
This includes showing violent movies in Electronics or hunting season videos in Sporting Goods.
But whatever you do, don’t get rid of guns.
I’m not a gun owner, and I’m more than happy to live in an area where a-holes aren’t walking around open-carrying in grocery stores and coffee shops. When I’m in places where the gun-culture has more of a hold – Arizona, Texas – I find it unsettling to go into a restaurant and see some guys who are strapped sitting at the bar. Last winter, on a hike in a (wonderful) state park in Arizona, we encountered some folks on horseback, wearing cowboy hats, holsters and guns. Yippee kay-ay-oh. Maybe they needed them to shoot varmints, rattlers, whatever.
I just plain don’t feel safer when I see “good guys with guns.” Au contraire – as us East Coast, non-gun-toting elites say. In fact, it scares the shit out of me.
A few years ago, a guy came into the ATM I was using wearing a holster and gun. The guy was in khakis and a polo shirt, but looked kind of ex-military or cop-ish. Anyway, when I left the ATM (hurriedly, I might add), I mentioned it to the cop on the corner. He told me is was probably a newly minted police officer who was just a bit excited to be on the job, even when he’s off the job.
About the same time, there was some sort of Second Amendment demonstration at the State House, and there were all sorts of yahoos waltzing around carrying rifles. I got home fast.
Massachusetts, as it turns out, is not a traditional open carry state. You’re not supposed to open carry, but it’s not a Class A violation to do so.
In any case, it’s way out of the norm to see people carrying guns here.
And, while we do have gun-related crime, it’s way out of the norm to have a lot of gun-related deaths.
Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates of gun ownership among states and, no surprise, one of the lowest rates of gun deaths. We also have an overall murder rate that is well below the national average.
Does gun ownership correlate with murder? Hmmmm.
All this said, I’m not opposed to gun ownership. Hunters gonna hunt, etc.
I just think that there ought to be a few more lids put on it. Registration. Training. Background checks. Waiting periods. Bans on the sale of things like machine guns. Devices that can turn a plain old gun into a weapon of mass destruction.
Seriously, who needs the ability to fire off 100 rounds in a nano-second to hunt a deer or protect their home from an armed intruder?
My thoughts are hardly original here, but I’ve got the right to bear words.
And I can even conceive of becoming a Second Amendment Liberal.
If there is a civil war, and the nutters come for my books and ACLU membership card, I’d just as soon go down fighting. Hopefully, I’ll stroke out before I need to take up arms.
Of course, if Walmart stops selling guns, it really won’t make all that much of a difference. They don’t sell the AK-47 “military-style” guns favored by mass murderers to begin with. They only sell any guns at about half their stores. And they don’t sell guns to those under the age of 21.
But banning signage depicting violence seems like a hollow gesture at best. Why not make a slightly less hollow gesture – in fact one that’s pretty damned powerful symbolically - and stop selling guns period.
Ain’t gonna happen, I know.
But, dear God, Walmart’s got to know that getting rid of signage that show violence isn’t really going to do much to help us overcome our national obsessions with violence and gun ownership.
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