Interesting, and what's ironic is that this is just going to get worse because with the upcoming "Call Of Juarez" game they will actually be able to make some sensible arguements in tying games to gang violence because by all reports that whole game is going to be a giant gang propaganda piece, by putting players in the role of drug cartel members involved in the real gang wars on the border, fighting law enforcement, and glorifying the lifestyle.
See, right now the anti-gaming messages are ridiculous, gaming simply being the current boogieman. The people making these arguements don't even know enough about gaming to make a good show out of it. See, if you had to face *ME* on the other side of this, even if I was just after ratings, I'd be dragging up things like the old game "Ethnic Cleansing" (look it up) which includes contact information to get in touch with and presumably join groups like the KKK and Aryan Brotherhood IRL. I interspace fringe things like that with the big name games I could probably make a more compelling arguement, even if it was still wrong. Of course right now "Call Of Juarez: The Cartel" or whatever they decide to call it is pretty much going to activate "god mode" for media anti-gaming rampages.
In the end I think people just need to come to grips with the simple fact that children are not "little adults" and are not fully formed intellecually or emotionally. They are very differant from fully formed people, and driven by a lot of inherant instincts, which includes a lot of violent, socio-pathic, and self-interested behavior. This is why socializing children is such a big deal, and part of parenting. All of these kids shows that teach the moral lesson of "sharing is a good thing" and such exist for a reason.
Your kids aren't violent because they played violent video games, they are violent because they are kids. Video games are just the current entertainment medium of choice, and no more responsible for developmental human nature than any of the other things people have tried to use as boogiemen over the years.
In cases like this shooting, the guys were violent because they were gang members and involved in organized crime. Gangs and organized crime didn't come into being because of video games or the modern media. Indeed I'd argue that we have it pretty good compared to the old days, when gangs took over entire cities. I think we just THINK there is more violence today than in the past because of instant information, and the simple fact that towns can't bury their sordid histories like used to happen. We're simply more aware of what is going on, and that awareness makes things seem a lot differant than they were.
People tend to forget about the formation of the FBI and what the country was like beforehand, and WHY it made Hoover a hero for a long time (even if he's looked down on nowadays). Guys like Al Capone were so far in the past that it just seems unreal to people today, and the same can be said of some of the rampages Biker gangs have gone on decades ago when they simply had the numbers and the firepower than the authorities couldn't put out enough force to really stop them. Of course by the same token it can be argued that there is also a truce of sorts between some of the largest bike clubs and the goverment. Some of the larger and better organized and more violent clubs have enough membership and firepower that getting rid of them would probably require the national guard (of course this is a whole differant discussion, there have been shows on TV talking about the situation with groups like the Mongols and the Outlaws, and so on).
At any rate, while a lot of people hate the song, I think Paper Lace produced one of the best reminders ever in the form of a song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fPK-JgwYjw
One of the better videos to illustrate it too. Yes, they got him on tax charges, but he ruled the city through violence, and did NOT go down easily.
Some time think about things like that, and what a grip he had on the city, and how much violence, lawlessness, and crime there was through the entire nation, with the police forces being a shadow of what they are now. Then try and say that things are worse now and that obviously all of this comes from video games. "OMG an innocent bystander got gunned down by gang bangers", well at least the gang bangers went to jail. There was a time when the gangsters would have just gone to have a nice lunch after such a mistake and cursed about their luck, because nobody would have had the guts to cross them... even the police.
