But I don't worry that my five year old will turn into a cold-blooded killer if she plays Black Ops II. I think the NRA is hypocritical primarily because they want to sacrifice the first amendment at the altar of the second but I'll admit, releasing a shooter app is more tone-deaf than hypocritical.Ĭriticism of my last post has tended toward something like this: how can I possibly think that shooting targets is the same as shooting "real people" in a video game? My response is simple: do gun owners who fire at targets shaped like people believe they will be made "violent" by doing so? Is there any difference between shooting at a round target or a human-shaped one that psychologically transforms us into murderers? I don't think so.īy no means are all video games appropriate for all ages. So when the NRA releases a shooting range app that teaches gun safety and gives people a chance to somehow practice shooting on a touch-screen, I find it absurd more than anything else. Once again, violent video games and films are consumed in many countries, but only in America do we have this number of school shootings. Setting aside how ludicrous I find the idea of arming teachers or placing armed guards in every school in America, the notion that censoring violent media will somehow prevent school shootings is preposterous. When that organization decides that the second amendment is more important than the first amendment, and suggests censorship as an answer to violence, I think we have a problem. Rather, I'm simply critiquing a lobbyist organization which has a very powerful influence over the US government-an organization that doesn't necessarily have the interests of all gun owners at heart at all times. The video game lobby certainly doesn't speak for me.
![pixel people altar pixel people altar](https://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/80/3d/41/803d414c-4717-51e3-0812-0a400b54505e/screen480x480.jpeg)
Many gun owners have told me that the NRA doesn't speak for them, and I think that's great. When I criticize the NRA I am not criticizing gun owners writ large.
#PIXEL PEOPLE ALTAR MOVIE#
Perhaps there is a grand bargain to be struck, but I won't cross my fingers.Įither way, it's not clear how increased access to mental healthcare services will make guns less available to people like the shooters responsible for 151 mass shooting deaths in 2012 alone, in schools and movie theaters and shopping malls across the United States. Unfortunately, many of the same people who oppose gun control also oppose government involvement in healthcare. I do think there are ways we could demand more responsibility out of gun owners that would not infringe upon their second amendment right to bear arms I also believe there are problems with gun shows and other loopholes that could be addressed without any threat to responsible gun ownership.įurthermore, we face a mental health crisis in this country-not because more Americans suffer from mental health than in other countries, but because we have terrible access to mental healthcare in this country. Whether tighter gun control is the answer is another open question-and an even more difficult question is what sort of gun control would be feasible or effective.