Games don’t kill people, Guns do
While sitting in the break room at work, I found myself staring at the television in disbelief once again. Scenes of red and blue lights, frightened bystanders and hysterical family members flooded the screen. The banner displaying the all familiar message, Mass Shooting — El Paso Texas. Now admittedly, upon my initial disapproving head shake and large sigh, I stopped paying attention to the television and returned to blindly scrolling on my phone. That was until I heard the reporter state that the killer had briefly referenced the first-person shooter video game, Call of Duty, in his manifesto and these kinds of games were to blame. Now, as someone who has been explicitly involved with this title since its first inception during the early 2000s and never once thought to convert these animated antics to real-world scenarios, I thought this was an outlandish statement to make. One that I personally believe to be blasphemous and completely unfounded. But it still poses the question; do violent video games lead to sadistic acts or is it another moral panic?
There is quite the history of big media blaming violent video games for mass shootings and it is widely accepted that this is to distract the public from the bigger issues at hand such as gun control reform. To understand this, you must first understand who the NRA is and the role they play. The National Rifle Association (NRA), were incepted in the mid-1800s to “promote and encourage rifle shooting” to the general public spearheaded by US civil war veterans. Today, the NRA has grown into a chief force in US politics whose lobbying sector works tirelessly to pass pro-gun reform legislation. Currently, the NRA is regularly voted by a panel of congressional representatives as the most influential lobby group within the United States ahead of “Big Oil and Big Pharma”. The NRA essentially has total control over American gun policy and until the majority of America changes their views and rejects them, they will remain in power. To ensure this does not happen is imperative that when tragedy strikes involving their beloved guns, the correct message that aligns with their views is delivered to the public.
The NRA has a rich history of blaming video games for horrific shootings across the country over the past ten years. In 2012, following the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, NRA’s Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre addressed the media with the main goal of shifting blame. Throughout his speech his continually makes the point that those involved with the making of these games to be apart of villainous and corrupt organisations that “sells and sows violence against its own people.” The entirety of the speech, and many like it since, has been conducted with the single goal of diverting the focus from the real issue at hand, the unbelievably easy access of guns, to the idea that these entertainment industries and their by-products are responsible for creative violence amongst its audience. This relates directly to the media effects theory also known as the Magic Bullet theory. This theory is based around how the mass media can influence the attitudes and beliefs of its audience members and given their large stature, makes it impossible for any resistance (much like being shot by a real bullet). This allows the public to draw conclusions without feeling the need to conduct any further personal research given that there are still high levels of trust in relation to traditional media outlets. Resulting in the continuing support of the notion that playing violent video games will, in turn, make you violent.
So is there any correlation between violent games and committing violent acts?
What has been a continuously debated topic, the evidence tends to point towards the fact that there is no real proof that playing video games will then translate into real world societal forms of aggression. Christopher Ferguson, a University Chairman of Psychology, commented that the majority of subjects studied playing violent video games displayed minuscule forms of increased aggression. Such as making loud noises or playing practical jokes on their opponent. However, findings such as these could also be solely attributed to the individual just being competitive. When real world violent acts do occur, the links between them and violet video games are almost completely extinguished. Information exerted from a recent study conducted by the Secret Service showed that less than 20 per cent of school shooting perpetrators regularly played violent video games. This is an extremely interesting figure when you consider that roughly 84% of teenage boys countrywide play violent video games for an average of fifteen hours per week. This figure alone leads me to believe that if this form of entertainment plays any contributing role to mass shootings, the numbers would be exponentially higher.
I personally find the irony of it all quite hilarious. You have a governing body in the form of the NRA, criticising the very medium that they rely on to push their message (lies), blaming game makers for the murder of thousands of individuals for creating a game that is the literal re-enactment of what high calibre guns are designed to do (aim, squeeze, kill). As an Australian, it is abundantly clear to myself, and the rest of my country, what the solution is. Ban all automatic and semi-automatic weapons. This is a solution that has been shot down (pun intended) countless times by those in power of the red, white and blue, with the main argument of “gun control just does not work”. However, this constant negative reinforcement from media conglomerates on the “harms” of violent video games will only continue to stifle any real progress made on the issue of constant mass shootings. With any hope, those heading into power push for change and someday soon, the only shooting that occurs will be on a screen with a controller in hand.
