Red Flag Laws

[Mack_C85]

For those of you who think lying petitioners should prosecuted heavily......

in Maryland, a petition must be:

     " (i)    be signed and sworn to by the petitioner under the penalty of perjury"

But, all they have to claim is they did it in "good faith" and they have total immunity!!

    "(d)    A petitioner who, in good faith, files a petition under this subtitle is not civilly or criminally liable for filing the petition."

Lie away...in good faith, of course.

Due Process my .......



Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk

 

[leswad]

Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin

Just joined GOA

 

[BC38]

For those of you who think lying petitioners should prosecuted heavily......

in Maryland, a petition must be:

     " (i)    be signed and sworn to by the petitioner under the penalty of perjury"

But, all they have to claim is they did it in "good faith" and they have total immunity!!

    "(d)    A petitioner who, in good faith, files a petition under this subtitle is not civilly or criminally liable for filing the petition."

Lie away...in good faith, of course.

Due Process my .......



Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk

Nah, that can't be happening - the experts have said so...

 

[Mack_C85]

Nah, that can't be happening - the experts have said so...

Nope, never would happen......except the text in quotes is directly copied from the MD online law service.....

Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk

 

[gman51]

A friend of mine was visited by the police and his daughter was taken away because his neighbor reported him for child abuse. None of it was true but that didn't stop his pathetic neighbor from reporting him for suspected child abuse.
I believe he said it cost him around 10 grand in legal fees to stop the nonsense. He asked his lawyer about bringing charges against her for false accusation. His lawyer said it would cost him a lot of money and probably little if even anything might be done to her for it. Her... OOPS Sorry I made a mistake but I was only concerned for the teenager. Even though all of it was just because his neighbor was hell bent on causing him trouble he was the only one that had to pay dearly for it.
That is the perfect example of how Red Flag laws might be abused.

Back ground checks haven't stopped mass murders basically because the man power and funding isn't there to make it be effective. The list of mass killers is long that had been under federal investigation but weren't even stopped from their killing sprees.
Just imagine how badly red flag laws could be abused. Where is the funding going to come from to investigate reported red flags? They just might not do any investigating before they issue a warrant and then the accused will have to prove he isn't a threat to anyone or himself. Lawyers charge by the hour so how many hours can you afford to pay for? Oh you going to go with a public defender? Good luck with that.
Guess again if you think they aren't coming for the guns or making buying or selling or even giving them away swamped by government approval. Will any of it it stop mass killings? We know the answer to that question. That will mean people will again be screaming for greater gun control or disarming all together. Step by step, inch by inch it doesn't matter as long as they get what they want. Which is your guns. It is looking more and more like the 2nd means nothing.

 

[rednichols]

I understand that you might do all that, but really, the only thing the people you're writing can do to impact your lifestyle is change tax law for expatriates. What you're doing is akin to somebody who's left my county twenty years but still somehow votes here trying to tell us who the county commissioners should be and what they should do. I'd see the return address and all them funny postmarks, give the letter its due attention, and toss it . . .

Don't ever forget love of country. I want the very best for America; I didn't leave because of the mess you all have left it in beginning with Columbine in 1999; I had a business opportunity with a holster maker in Melbourne, met a girl, married, been here ever since. My own operation in USA, Nichols Innovation that supplied new designs to the middle size makers like DeSantis and 23 more, had run out of steam because the industry had begun to consolidate (Bianchi swallowed by Safariland, Safariland then swallowed more than once since then) and having done a pretty good job of supplying my customers, I had designed myself out of relevance.

So NOW I stay away because of a dozen messes that have been made to my birth country since 1999 (so I've lived here 20 years now and have been back many times). The last straw was watching the news and hearing the heavy pounding of assault rifles in Vegas in 2017 when I had just taken my bride there in 2015 (yes, same hotel) telling her how safe it was. The country I left in 1999 didn't have a soundtrack right out of Iraq.

I'm a big 'cause and effect' guy. If one can pick the correct cause one can avoid unnecessary danger, and manage necessary danger. Nature says, don't jump off a building unaided. Man's law doesn't dictate that, so a dumb kid can't negotiate with Mom about not jumping; physics are involved.

The same with the mass stranger shootings that have proliferated since 1999. Look at the Wiki listing of them: they began with Columbine. And the Columbine shooters specifically call out Doom, the first of the first-person shooter games. And these games are popping up in all the shootings since.

Be aware I'm not for a moment speaking of all shootings of more than 'x' persons. I'm speaking of a shooter who walks through a crowd of people he (I think of only one exception, the Google attempt by a woman) doesn't know and fires at random for maximum death. Is it racism, because a mosque was involved? Don't think so: consider the saying attributed to Jesse James or some such: 'Why do you rob banks?' 'Because they're where they keep the money'. First person shooters seek out large groups who have gathered for their own reasons; he is not necessarily shooting them for those reasons.

So: when NZ banned all guns after their mosque shooting, they made a huge mistake. They let on foreigner (he is Australian) change their laws forever. One. Because they didn't look closely enough: he was called out as a first-person video game player. And went to NZ because that's where the guns were.

If you all don't correctly identify the CAUSE of these shootings; which you and I and everyone else on this forum can agree is NOT assault rifles -- because they existed in civilian hands long before Columbine -- then you will lose your guns.

I have worked out that the confluence was the appearance of immersing psychopaths (and turning them into them from being mere sociopaths) in mass murder for fun. And they literally cannot distinguish between the fake and the real. There is even a name for it: A Call of Duty fantasy.

So I have been writing since 2012 to get people to listen. When I post here, I get 'you'll get my video games from my cold dead hands'. I get that we respect ALL of the Amendments, not just the 2nd. So I don't know WHAT you all will do. But if you don't do SOMETHING you'll lose your guns. Everyone from the President on down has an election coming up in Nov 2020 and they WILL take something away from you in USA by then.

 

[BC38]

Wish I could "LIKE" that post more than once Red...

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Red Nichols is both concise and correct. There will be a national election next year, and there will be some changes in firearms laws coming. Only the scope and nature of such changes remain to be seen.

We are once again forced into a position of compromise, just as we have been throughout my adult life (with the Gun Control Act of 1968 as a benchmark). Unfortunately, the compromises always are made in favor of gun control advocates and the detriment of law-abiding citizens.

We cannot expect to walk away from this next round of compromises without some damage to firearms liberties. And we cannot expect this round to be the last round. No matter what the anti-gun rights crowd may gain this time they will continue to demand more, and the compromising will continue until there is little or nothing left to defend.

I do not claim to have the answers or any solution. All I hope and pray for is adherence to the basic premises of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and no recurrence of the events of April 19, 1775 (which was the first time that the lawful government of North America attempted to impose gun control on the population at Lexington and Concord, MA, resulting in the opening shots of a revolutionary war).

I have children. I have grandchildren. I have great-grandchildren. I hope for a future in which they may live in liberty and peace.

 

[Old TexMex]

Hell, I can’t even find all my guns. How are the cops supposed to?

We had a hurricane. All I have left are my photographs.

 

[Old TexMex]

Don't ever forget love of country. I want the very best for America; I didn't leave because of the mess you all have left it in beginning with Columbine in 1999; I had a business opportunity with a holster maker in Melbourne, met a girl, married, been here ever since. My own operation in USA, Nichols Innovation that supplied new designs to the middle size makers like DeSantis and 23 more, had run out of steam because the industry had begun to consolidate (Bianchi swallowed by Safariland, Safariland then swallowed more than once since then) and having done a pretty good job of supplying my customers, I had designed myself out of relevance.

So NOW I stay away because of a dozen messes that have been made to my birth country since 1999 (so I've lived here 20 years now and have been back many times). The last straw was watching the news and hearing the heavy pounding of assault rifles in Vegas in 2017 when I had just taken my bride there in 2015 (yes, same hotel) telling her how safe it was. The country I left in 1999 didn't have a soundtrack right out of Iraq.

I'm a big 'cause and effect' guy. If one can pick the correct cause one can avoid unnecessary danger, and manage necessary danger. Nature says, don't jump off a building unaided. Man's law doesn't dictate that, so a dumb kid can't negotiate with Mom about not jumping; physics are involved.

The same with the mass stranger shootings that have proliferated since 1999. Look at the Wiki listing of them: they began with Columbine. And the Columbine shooters specifically call out Doom, the first of the first-person shooter games. And these games are popping up in all the shootings since.

Be aware I'm not for a moment speaking of all shootings of more than 'x' persons. I'm speaking of a shooter who walks through a crowd of people he (I think of only one exception, the Google attempt by a woman) doesn't know and fires at random for maximum death. Is it racism, because a mosque was involved? Don't think so: consider the saying attributed to Jesse James or some such: 'Why do you rob banks?' 'Because they're where they keep the money'. First person shooters seek out large groups who have gathered for their own reasons; he is not necessarily shooting them for those reasons.

So: when NZ banned all guns after their mosque shooting, they made a huge mistake. They let on foreigner (he is Australian) change their laws forever. One. Because they didn't look closely enough: he was called out as a first-person video game player. And went to NZ because that's where the guns were.

If you all don't correctly identify the CAUSE of these shootings; which you and I and everyone else on this forum can agree is NOT assault rifles -- because they existed in civilian hands long before Columbine -- then you will lose your guns.

I have worked out that the confluence was the appearance of immersing psychopaths (and turning them into them from being mere sociopaths) in mass murder for fun. And they literally cannot distinguish between the fake and the real. There is even a name for it: A Call of Duty fantasy.

So I have been writing since 2012 to get people to listen. When I post here, I get 'you'll get my video games from my cold dead hands'. I get that we respect ALL of the Amendments, not just the 2nd. So I don't know WHAT you all will do. But if you don't do SOMETHING you'll lose your guns. Everyone from the President on down has an election coming up in Nov 2020 and they WILL take something away from you in USA by then.

I lived in Queensland from 1984 to 1999. Too bad Paul Keating and John Howard didn’t get the letters that were sent to them. Remember Tasmania?

The cry of DO SOMETHING is heard all over here, just like it was there. I know what happened in Australia, I was there when it happened.
Now Oz has the biggest per capita ice madness in the world. Madness.

 

[Wise_A]

If you all don't correctly identify the CAUSE of these shootings; which you and I and everyone else on this forum can agree is NOT assault rifles -- because they existed in civilian hands long before Columbine -- then you will lose your guns.

A madman with a gun and nobody around to stop him?

Because clearly, we never had any mass murders in this country before video games! And certainly no mass shootings!

Howard Unrah, shot 13 people from a window.

Mutsuo Toi, killed 29 of his neighbors with a shotgun in Japan. He killed his 79-year old grandmother with an axe.

Christian Dorner, killed 14 and injured 8 with a double-barreled shotgun, in France in 1989.

And I know there was at least one mass shooting in America, circa 1930 or so, committed with a double-barreled shotgun, but for the life of me, I can't remember the shooter's name or even the state. It was definitely in an Ayoob Files bit.

Blaming video games is foolish. It's like blaming heroine for the fact that one is a drug addict. Democrats championed it first, because heaven forbid anyone actually be responsible for their own actions. Before that, Tipper and Hillary were busy blaming rap music and metal for the moral decay of our youths. Before that, some idiot shot a Beatle and Catcher in the Rye got blamed.

Which really pisses me off, because then I got stuck reading that sad excuse for a book in high school.

The Right has decided to champion it now, because it's easier than actually making a cogent argument in Soundbite America, and because their voters are old and have never seen a video game. Well, their voters actually aren't, but like so much of the political class, they're completely incapable of viewing people as anything more than two-dimensional stereotypes.

This guy named Lt Col Grossman wrote a pop psychology book about it, which made it cool for Reps and Gun Guys to blame video games. This Grossman being the guy that wrote that "sheepdog" drivel. Anyways, Grossman, when he wasn't getting the US Army to fund his junk science degree, basically made the claim that "video games program young people to kill, just like we program them to kill in the military!". Which is absurd on a few different levels. Nobody needs to be "programmed" to kill, a fact borne out by nothing less than all of human history.

People are violent animals. Whether you look to Cain and Abel, or to the scores of pre-historic hominid skeletons with damage from axes, spears, and arrows, the proof is overflowing. Modern society attempts to curb our violent tendencies, because violence isn't conducive to mass habitation and cooperation.

If you think (wrongly, I might add) that mass shootings are on the rise, then you would be better-served asking yourself why young men are increasingly isolated from the civilizing effects of society. Chan culture has been far more universal amongst the younger perpetrators you seem to be referencing than videogames.

 

[BC38]

A madman with a gun and nobody around to stop him?

Because clearly, we never had any mass murders in this country before video games! And certainly no mass shootings!

Howard Unrah, shot 13 people from a window.

Mutsuo Toi, killed 29 of his neighbors with a shotgun in Japan. He killed his 79-year old grandmother with an axe.

Christian Dorner, killed 14 and injured 8 with a double-barreled shotgun, in France in 1989.

And I know there was at least one mass shooting in America, circa 1930 or so, committed with a double-barreled shotgun, but for the life of me, I can't remember the shooter's name or even the state. It was definitely in an Ayoob Files bit.

Blaming video games is foolish. It's like blaming heroine for the fact that one is a drug addict. Democrats championed it first, because heaven forbid anyone actually be responsible for their own actions. Before that, Tipper and Hillary were busy blaming rap music and metal for the moral decay of our youths. Before that, some idiot shot a Beatle and Catcher in the Rye got blamed.

Which really pisses me off, because then I got stuck reading that sad excuse for a book in high school.

The Right has decided to champion it now, because it's easier than actually making a cogent argument in Soundbite America, and because their voters are old and have never seen a video game. Well, their voters actually aren't, but like so much of the political class, they're completely incapable of viewing people as anything more than two-dimensional stereotypes.

This guy named Lt Col Grossman wrote a pop psychology book about it, which made it cool for Reps and Gun Guys to blame video games. This Grossman being the guy that wrote that "sheepdog" drivel. Anyways, Grossman, when he wasn't getting the US Army to fund his junk science degree, basically made the claim that "video games program young people to kill, just like we program them to kill in the military!". Which is absurd on a few different levels. Nobody needs to be "programmed" to kill, a fact borne out by nothing less than all of human history.

People are violent animals. Whether you look to Cain and Abel, or to the scores of pre-historic hominid skeletons with damage from axes, spears, and arrows, the proof is overflowing. Modern society attempts to curb our violent tendencies, because violence isn't conducive to mass habitation and cooperation.

If you think (wrongly, I might add) that mass shootings are on the rise, then you would be better-served asking yourself why young men are increasingly isolated from the civilizing effects of society. Chan culture has been far more universal amongst the younger perpetrators you seem to be referencing than videogames.

You're right Wise_A. These kinds of random violence events DID occur before violent video games were invented, and it IS because of the inherent evil in the human soul. Humans have been killing each other as long as we have been around. Cain killed Abel out of jealousy, people killed each other for money or possessions, or sex, or war, and the archeological record supports that assertion. But the phenomenon of someone randomly killing multiple perfect strangers just for the hell of it, and of it happening multiple times per year, is something new and different.

The sheer number of events like this has definitely increased in recent years, and I believe it is due to several factors. Narcissistic self obsession, polarization in our society, general disregard for the value of human life, lack of treatment and resources to properly deal with the mentally ill, psychotropic drugs being handed out like candy, the desire to be famous (or more precisely INfamous), AND young people being desensitized to violence by violent media and violent video games. The games in particular serve as a training tool for the act.

To say these types of events are not happening more frequently today than they were 20 or 30 years ago is false. Did they happen back then? Sure. But they were rare. We had 3 of these events in less than two weeks recently. You cannot possibly believe that is the historical norm.

Do the video games "make" people commit these acts? Of course not. We're all free agents, but when you take young people who have mental health issues that make them prone to violence in the first place, and you numb them with meds, then steep them in violent imagery, and even allow them to practice executing their violent fantasies, you can easily push some of them over the edge. It makes it that much easier for some of them to transition from just fantasizing about killing a dozen people to actually planning and executing the murder of a dozen random people.

The societal influences that tell them NOT to commit these acts can be overwhelmed with the influence of the violent media they consume, and practicing the violence in a video game can normalize what they imagine through "seeing" and "doing" it over and over in a virtual world to the point that doing it in real life becomes acceptable in their minds. It is called conditioning, and it is a real "thing".

 

[Walkingwolf]

I agree law abiding people should not be punnished for the actions of a few criminals. The real question is how people without a brain abnormality become a criminal. Could it be factors in their development?

I am against most anti smoking laws, even though I don't smoke. Do I think subjecting young developing minds to endless violence is any different than allowing children to smoke? NO it is not, and damn irresponsible. The current trend of young shooters is our fault, all of ours. We are unwilling to hold parents accountable for stupid stuff, such using violent video games as a babysitter. The use of video for traingin, and child development has long been accepted for good reason. Why in the hell should we train our young-lings to be killers?

 

[BC38]

I agree law abiding people should not be punnished for the actions of a few criminals. The real question is how people without a brain abnormality become a criminal. Could it be factors in their development?

I am against most anti smoking laws, even though I don't smoke. Do I think subjecting young developing minds to endless violence is any different than allowing children to smoke? NO it is not, and damn irresponsible. The current trend of young shooters is our fault, all of ours. We are unwilling to hold parents accountable for stupid stuff, such using violent video games as a babysitter. The use of video for traingin, and child development has long been accepted for good reason. Why in the hell should we train our young-lings to be killers?

Exactly. They don't allow billboards or TV ads for tobacco anymore, and everytime some Hollyweird type smokes onscreen they get lambasted for it. Why? Because we don't want to encourage kids to smoke by imitating the imagery they see. And it is working. The percentage of people smoking is WAY down. Admittedly some of that is due to the high cost of tobacco, and more knowledge of its health effects, but higher costs and health impacts don't seem to have negatively influenced (reduced) other buying behaviors or vices (booze) to the same degree that smoking has decreased.

Yet some still try to say that violent imagery doesn't influence behavior? Like I said earlier, the same media folks who will tell you it is worth it to spend a million dollars on a 30 second SuperBowl commercial BECAUSE seeing it on screen will influence people to buy your product, will turn right around and talk out the other side of their mouth and say that seeing the violence they portray onscreen (or acting it out in video games) couldn't possibly influence people's behavior towards violence.

I say HORSE HOCKEY! For those mentally unstable individuals prone to that kind of behavior, I think it clearly does. I think of the old Cherokee proverb

The Fight of Two Wolves Within You
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Violent media and violent video games obviously "feed" the madness within those prone to such things and strengthen their desire and even their intentions to act on these violent fantasies. Just as in times past, other, more positive societal attitudes and institutional forces (such as the church) influenced and "fed" the rational side of such people and encouraged them follow their better impulses and NOT to act out violent fantasies.

And this isn't the same as blaming the gun. The gun doesn't immerse people in interactive world of practicing shooting and killing people. It doesn't reduce other people to the level of a target to score points in order to "win" or reward you for doing so either. The video games do EXACTLY that. A gun isn't a conditioning tool - video imagery is.

 

[italiansport]

Whatever anyone may think is the reason(s) behind these ill/warped individuals actions these "Red Flag" laws are as potentially prone to abuse as any other law that comes to mind. Virtually anyone can notify the authorities that you may abuse firearms and the police will be compelled to confiscate them without the likely hood you'll ever get them back. This of course completely violates the Due Process protection we have in our Constitution. I expect before too long, and after several abuses, this constitutional violation will be raised in the Supreme Court!
Jim

 

[BC38]

I just saw a USA Today story saying that
White nationalists could have firearms taken under red flag law proposed by Kamala Harris

The Democratic presidential candidate's proposal calls for the creation of “domestic terrorism prevention orders” that would give law enforcement and family members of suspected white nationalists or domestic terrorists the ability to petition a federal court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns if the person exhibits clear evidence of being a danger.

“We need to take action to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and stop violent, hate-fueled attacks before they happen,” Harris said. “By focusing on confronting these domestic terror threats, we can save lives.”

So, even before they get universal Red Flag laws put into place, some of the people who are pushing for them are already trying to expand them to include ideologies that they disagree with - on the basis that they consider them dangerous. Of course they also consider us "gun nuts" dangerous.

It appears to me that the same anti-2nd Amendment people who are throwing around the "White Nationalist" label belong to the same groups who railed against us rednecks "clinging our guns and religion" and labeled people of the same mindset as the majority of us gun owners as being "deplorables". If they get their way, any gun owner who is vocal and loudly espouses a political viewpoint they disagree with will be ripe for getting slapped with the "potential domestic terrorist" label an then subjected to firearms confiscation with no due process.

What's next? Re-education camps? Keep your powder dry folks.

 

[johngalt]

I wrote my representatives stating my opposition to further gun control laws, I got this response back from Senator Mike Braun (R-IN). We are in trouble.

Thank you for contacting my office regarding Second Amendment protections to keep and bear arms. I appreciate hearing from you.

I am an avid hunter, a National Rifle Association member, and stand 100 percent in support of the Second Amendment. In the Senate, I will oppose any efforts to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners and will protect their ability to defend themselves and their families in life-threatening situations. Because of this, I have co-sponsored S. 69, the Constitutional Carry Reciprocity Act, S. 1506, a bill to permit those complying with state firearm laws to carry, and S. 351, the Gun Owners Registration Information Protection Act.

I am deeply troubled, though, by the recent shootings that took place in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Simply put, there is no place for the hate that motivated these attacks in our great country. Americans are collectively grieving the loss of our fellow citizens to senseless violence. My wife Maureen and I are praying for the victims and survivors of these horrific events.

I know that the federal government’s most fundamental responsibility is to keep citizens safe. As a United States Senator, public safety is therefore a top priority. Steps must be taken to ensure that the mentally ill and those who wish to do others harm are not able to legally purchase and possess firearms to commit violent acts.

Mass shootings and gun violence across the country create complex situations, and I believe that we need solutions to prevent those who only wish to do others harm from gaining access to dangerous weapons. First and foremost, I believe our existing laws need to be fully enforced. Second, I believe a meaningful legislative solution would include reforms to strengthen background checks, extreme risk protection orders and commonsense restrictions on modifications that allow legal firearms to function like fully automatic military style weapons. Lastly, we as Americans must take the time required to address and respond to the part of our culture that glorifies violence and instead empower communities to focus mental health services.

Any legislation that I support or vote for will have to be constructed in a way that protects law-abiding Americans’ access to their Second Amendment rights. As I consider any currently proposed legislation, I will keep your thoughts in mind.

Thank you for contacting me. It is an honor to serve as your U.S. Senator from Indiana. Please keep in touch with me on issues of concern to you. You can also follow me on Twitter or Facebook for real-time updates on my activities in the U.S. Senate. If I ever may be of service, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

[rednichols]

A madman with a gun and nobody around to stop him?

Because clearly, we never had any mass murders in this country before video games! And certainly no mass shootings!

Howard Unrah, shot 13 people from a window.

Mutsuo Toi, killed 29 of his neighbors with a shotgun in Japan. He killed his 79-year old grandmother with an axe.

Christian Dorner, killed 14 and injured 8 with a double-barreled shotgun, in France in 1989.

And I know there was at least one mass shooting in America, circa 1930 or so, committed with a double-barreled shotgun, but for the life of me, I can't remember the shooter's name or even the state. It was definitely in an Ayoob Files bit.

Blaming video games is foolish. It's like blaming heroine for the fact that one is a drug addict. Democrats championed it first, because heaven forbid anyone actually be responsible for their own actions. Before that, Tipper and Hillary were busy blaming rap music and metal for the moral decay of our youths. Before that, some idiot shot a Beatle and Catcher in the Rye got blamed.

Which really pisses me off, because then I got stuck reading that sad excuse for a book in high school.

The Right has decided to champion it now, because it's easier than actually making a cogent argument in Soundbite America, and because their voters are old and have never seen a video game. Well, their voters actually aren't, but like so much of the political class, they're completely incapable of viewing people as anything more than two-dimensional stereotypes.

This guy named Lt Col Grossman wrote a pop psychology book about it, which made it cool for Reps and Gun Guys to blame video games. This Grossman being the guy that wrote that "sheepdog" drivel. Anyways, Grossman, when he wasn't getting the US Army to fund his junk science degree, basically made the claim that "video games program young people to kill, just like we program them to kill in the military!". Which is absurd on a few different levels. Nobody needs to be "programmed" to kill, a fact borne out by nothing less than all of human history.

People are violent animals. Whether you look to Cain and Abel, or to the scores of pre-historic hominid skeletons with damage from axes, spears, and arrows, the proof is overflowing. Modern society attempts to curb our violent tendencies, because violence isn't conducive to mass habitation and cooperation.

If you think (wrongly, I might add) that mass shootings are on the rise, then you would be better-served asking yourself why young men are increasingly isolated from the civilizing effects of society. Chan culture has been far more universal amongst the younger perpetrators you seem to be referencing than videogames.

I've reviewed then consolidated the several lists on Wikipedia on the subjects of large scale murders, just last night. It's not the first time I've reviewed it.

I'll give you two things to consider before you become too enamored with your research.

First, we are looking for the common factor of a large group of people chosen at random from a crowd that has gathered for its own reasons and so unknown to the shooter; one or two shooters; firearms being used; in USA. We're not looking for a madman with a knife in China. But the Texas tower shootings certainly do qualify.

Second, the slippery slope began, with the fall of the Hayes code for films. And that was Bonnie and Clyde in the late 1960s. Your USA shootings that meet the first criteria, certainly meet the second criteria for dating. With the Hayes code not only could violence not ever be graphically depicted, but the villain always had to lose; and for a way to view that compare the two Oceans Eleven films: all the participants suffered greatly in the original, in the remake all of them prospered.

Now: the frequency of category one (noted as First above) HAS been rising since the 1970s. You'll struggle to qualify more than one or two until 1999's Columbine. So you now need to realize that these are generations growing up in this environment, and evolving. And this has created the increase. The Columbine shooters were 12 when Doom was released and they played it presumptively (their use of it is outlined in the Wikipedia entry) until they were 18; at which point they invoked it and a film Natural Born Killers as the basis for their murders at Columbine High School.

We had two in '99, one in '02, two in '07, two in '09, four in '12, one in '13, three in '15, one in '16, two in '17, five in '18, and three (I think it's actually four) so far in '19. Now notice the years there WEREN'T any: they are before '99 followed by long intervals that then get shorter, and shorter, until there is NO interval.

 

[Wise_A]

And this isn't the same as blaming the gun. The gun doesn't immerse people in interactive world of practicing shooting and killing people. It doesn't reduce other people to the level of a target to score points in order to "win" or reward you for doing so either. The video games do EXACTLY that. A gun isn't a conditioning tool - video imagery is.

The sheer number of events like this has definitely increased in recent years, and I believe it is due to several factors. Narcissistic self obsession, polarization in our society, general disregard for the value of human life, lack of treatment and resources to properly deal with the mentally ill, psychotropic drugs being handed out like candy, the desire to be famous (or more precisely INfamous), AND young people being desensitized to violence by violent media and violent video games. The games in particular serve as a training tool for the act.

Have you ever actually played one of the games you're talking about?

And really, I think that by that logic, we should also ban football, dodgeball, historical reenactments, cowboy action shooting, IPSC, and IDPA.

But mostly, I would ask, can you point to one single study that found a correlation between video game play and violence?

PS--You do realize that 3D FPSs date back to 1990, right?

To say these types of events are not happening more frequently today than they were 20 or 30 years ago is false. Did they happen back then? Sure. But they were rare. We had 3 of these events in less than two weeks recently. You cannot possibly believe that is the historical norm.

Actually, yeah. I don't think it's particularly far outside statistical norms. And how close they are to each other has nothing to do with it. It would be like claiming the opposite because nothing happened the previous two or three months.

The FBI claims a 16% increase in active shooter incidents since 2010. Given the relative rarity of such events, that's nothing.

If I count it based on number of fatalities, we're actually way down since 2017--the year of the Las Vegas shooting, and a clear statistical outlier. See how you can manipulate data to claim any trend you want?

What's really interesting, is watching folks pounce on anything they don't like, be it "assault weapons" or "vidya games", over something that kills, on average less than 80 people a year in a country of 300 million. Twice as many people are going to be offed by serial killers this year. Are we going to get #triggered by that?

I wrote my representatives stating my opposition to further gun control laws, I got this response back from Senator Mike Braun (R-IN). We are in trouble.

Why are you surprised? Were you expecting loyalty? Did you think the "R" next to the state meant something?

Political parties are not your allies. They are only beholden to you to the point that they need either your vote, your money, or your time. R is rich right now, and since voter turnout is so apathetic, we don't generate any votes. Nobody wants to donate their volunteer time, so I guess they don't need us anything.

The letter is calculated to say "stuff that both sides will like", but for me, it's sour right from the start. Anyone that, when questioned as to their 2A stance, replies with "I am an avid hunter" is not your friend.

 

[Walkingwolf]

Media, Kids, and Violence
Sarah Miller, RN, National Center for Health Research
Media, Kids, and Violence | National Center for Health Research

[1] Although not every child or teen exposed to violence through media will become violent, media violence is very strongly connected with aggressive or violent behavior in those children. Researchers compare this to the connection between smoking and lung cancer. Although not everyone who smokes will develop lung cancer, smoking increases the risk of lung cancer and as a result smokers are more likely to get lung cancer.
[2] Exposure to violence in video games not only desensitizes people to violence, but also decreases empathy in children and adults. After watching violent movies or playing violent video games, people are less likely to show empathy behavior in their behaviors, for example, helping someone up who has fallen.
[3] Frequent exposure to media violence during childhood could be related to violent behavior later in life.
[4][/I]