Congresswoman Defends Violent Videogames

[Signa]

snip

Look, I'm not getting into another gun debate, it's been done to hell and back. I think that if you believe that guns are the problem, go ahead and vote to take away your privileges, it doesn't bother me. I just know that our founding fathers didn't make the second amendment with the notion that the government might at some point want to take away everyone's hunting tools (that's all guns were back then). They wanted to make sure that the reason they started their own country (another corrupt government) wouldn't happen again in the newly founded USA, and if it did, there would be a way to cleanse it if it became necessary.

Now, you've said your piece, and I've said mine, there's no point in driving this further.

 

[Signa]

Look, I'm not getting into another gun debate, it's been done to hell and back. I think that if you believe that guns are the problem, go ahead and vote to take away your privileges, it doesn't bother me.

Actually, guns are pretty much banned around here. Getting a permit for one requires some work in the form of fees, passing an extensive background check, psychiatric evaluation, mandatory safe storage and gun club membership of at least a year.

As a result, shootings are nearly unheard of. Drug criminals killing eachother account for the vast majority of gun crime, other people getting hurt is extremely rare and actively avoided by them (because doing that instantly makes you public enemy nr 1 and ensures getting caught and sentenced heavily). There's been exactly 2 spree shootings against citizens across 50 years, 1 of which didn't kill anyone because the perpetrator had to make do with a crappy former Yugoslavian pistol that he couldn't learn to handle.

Sorry, I just assumed you were American since you were talking about an American issue. I assume your mental health system is far superior to ours too. It's becoming more of the norm to look at disturbed people as someone with "a different life choice" than to be concerned about either helping them, or putting them away for the safety of others and themselves. Keep in mind we are the same country that privatized the prison system, so people are actually making money by running a business for holding people instead of rehabilitating them. I've heard statistics that roughly [footnote]I'm too lazy to find the actual numbers again, but the grossly disproportionate ratio is key to my point anyway[/footnote] 5% of the population commit 60% of violent crimes. We're fucked, basically, so taking away guns from that law abiding 95% isn't going to help anyone in the long run. The media loves a good scapegoat, and guns are the perfect ones right now after a dozen kids needlessly died.

EDIT: I should also add that you're falling into the same trap that everyone does when discussing gun control. Your point hinged heaviliy on the people who mistreat their privileges of freedom. A perfect society shouldn't need to have guns illegal because no one would want them or misuse them, but because there's always going to be those few that cause problems, these discussions always come up. It's never fair to punish all the people who did right because of a few people who did wrong, and yet that is what we are talking about doing every time this comes up. What needs to be done is not to remove the guns, but to make sure that those that like to jump through loopholes can't, and anyone who tries is punished severely for it. In other words, have a good mental health system that not only treats patients, but makes it impossible for dangerous patients to get a hold of a weapon. It's easier said than done, but it's the right thing to do because it fixes several problems at once, and it's not a retardedly ham-fisted solution to a knee-jerk reaction.

 

[michael87cn]

She had me up until she started on gun laws. Games can provide inspiration for a crime as readily as guns can provide a means. Most of us would agree that that doesn't mean we should blame games when someone goes and shoots someone after playing GTA IV, so why would you blame the gun? Both are merely scapegoats to excuse a violent individual.

Furthermore, an assault weapons ban would be especially ludicrous. The VAST majority of gun crime (by which I mean between 99%-100%) is committed with non-assault weapons. Most of them are committed with semi-automatic pistols, most of the remainder with shotguns or bolt-action or semi-automatic rifles that don't qualify as assault weapons. Yet I don't hear anyone advocating that those should be banned. I believe I read a statistic somewhere that said something like fewer than 50 murders in which a firearm was used involved an assault weapon since the 1970's. This is the equivalent of advocating that Lamborghinis should be banned because people die in car accidents.

Because you can't kill someone with a video game. Not unless its made of.... RAZOR PLASIC!

But yeah, restricting who can buy guns will do nobody any harm. Having to take a training test/psychological exam before buying a gun wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

[psijac]

Fully disagree with you there man. Getting rid of the guns will just cause bigger problems for everyone instead of an unfortunate few.

Why that would somehow magically happen remains a part of NRA mythology though, while international experiences around the world are clear: Ban guns, fewer problems everywhere.

The Belgium male suicide rate was more than cut in half after introducing stricter gun regulations for instance. In Australia, the phenomenon of spree shootings stopped entirely after a gun ban was put in place.

Switserland on the other hand loves guns, but can afford everything in regards to mental healthcare, and despite that they've got massacres, a violent crime rate that's remarkably high considering their low population density and wealth, and massive amounts of family dramas.

If we're talking about new gun control rules to keep the guns out of the hands of depressed people, sure, why not, but you're pointing your finger at the guns themselves when it's the fault of the guy who pulled the trigger.

How does that change the fact that no matter how mentally ill someone is, or what they want, if they don't have guns they can't perpetrate shootings?

Guns are always the cause because they're the enabling factor. Untill a gun violence advocate figures out a way to shoot people with your bare hands, that point will stand firm. (and no, it's impossible to argue that 'there will always be guns'. That too is just NRA mythology)

Was the Belgium suicide rate cut or the handgun suicide? Suicidal people will find a way to accomplish their ends. Japan has no guns but a suicide rate higher than the USA. Since the gun ban in Australia a woman is 3 times more likely to get raped than in the USA

The last massacre in Switzerland was when The Matrix was still Fresh.

Also your gun ban assumes that Americans are willing to give up their guns. There are 300 million guns in America. if 1% chooses not to give up their guns that is still 3 million guns in play. And if it took the life of one cop to take away one of those rogue guns then we would run out of cops faster than we would run out of guns Bans didn't stop Alcohol in the 20s and it hasn't stopped Drugs in the now.

Lastly Nancy Pelosi is a retard. She is not pro-games she is just anti-gun. The enemy of my enemy is not my friend.

 

[blackrave]

As an US outsider I have different proposal
How about working on improving mentality?
Not "I have rights and I will kill to ensure them"
But rather "While I have rights, I also have obligations to fellow humans"
Because to be honest, unitedstatians think that they have rights AND ONLY THEY have rights, others MUST provide their rights often on expense of their own rights.
Maybe that could decrease violent crimes for a notch?

 

[psijac]

Was the Belgium suicide rate cut or the handgun suicide? Suicidal people will find a way to accomplish their ends.

There was a small rise in male suicide by other means if you look at the percentages by method, but that is taken into account with the trend of it being cut in half.

Even more significantly, at the same time the economic crisis broke out (so suicides should've actually increased during that time) and the female suicides statistics revealed that women don't use guns to kill themselves (or fewer than 1% of the cases as it wasn't mentioned as a category) and the female suicide rate remained constant and rose slightly during the same time period.

This means that not being able to get guns was the sole variable, and therefore the cause of the suicide rate to be cut in half.
If you understand Dutch I can link you the detailed study of the statistics?

Since the gun ban in Australia a woman is 3 times more likely to get raped than in the USA

Sounds like a rubbish comparison. For this you need to prove that for one thing that's true, and for another thing, that it's causally related to guns.

Especially that last bit has never been done before.

The last massacre in Switzerland was when The Matrix was still Fresh.

Uh, no. Actually they have one about weekly. It's ussually just a wife and kids being murdered with army weapons kept at home. The Swiss are so used to that it's not even being reported any longer.

You have to understand that Switserland is an enclave of retarded patriarchal conservative thinking. It's the laughingstock of Europe in that regard. People are surprisingly tolerant and okay with women being killed for disobedience, divorce, or other offenses against conservative Christian morals.

They only even gained voting rights for women in 1991. Last country in Europe, and beaten to it by countries like Iran.

Also your gun ban assumes that Americans are willing to give up their guns. There are 300 million guns in America. if 1% chooses not to give up their guns that is still 3 million guns in play.

Reasoning the other way around it would result in 99% reduction of firearms violence.

Sounds like succes to me.

As of 2010 Australia had a rape per Capita of 79.5 In America is was 27.3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics


A gun Massacre is usually 5 or more victims. If you lower the definition of Massacre to a mum and her kid than even a kitchen knife is capable of a massacre in your definition. And why Do you keep missspelling Switserland? The Rape Capital of Europe is Sweden. The only Countries in Europe with a lower rape per capita Than Switzerland is Greece and Poland.

 

[SextusMaximus]

It's certainly a step forward. Good going!

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Wait a moment here...someone actually bothered to look at statistical evidence and research? She is using facts???

What's happened? I thought that pointing fingers based on nothing but opinion and thin air was the way to get things done.

 

[Generic4me]

Gonna go on a bit of a rant here.

OOH I'm gonna vote for her because she says videogames are fine!

Videogames aren't a main topic of politics, and this "violent videogames ERR EVILZ" bullshit will be 99% gone in 20 years when this generation is voting. I focus on the biggest issues, and right now, fixing the economy and paying off all these debts are the biggest issue. NOT videogames. Or our fucked-up gun laws, which I don't care about either. (Does nobody realize how unbelievably rare school shootings are?)

Second, Nancy Pelosi doesn't give a shit about videogames. She's saying that to divert attention to her anti-gun agenda. I wouldn't even be surprised if if she got her anti-gun legislation through, she'd be on the "videogames err evilz and we should tax them" bandwagon too.