Politician Asks Game Makers to End Real-Life Gun Licensing

[sethisjimmy]

A little hypocritical coming from a member of the American government. Isn't America kind of massively known for producing and exporting weapons all around the world? Those in glass houses shouldn't be throwing those kinds of stones. The American government has given far, far more support for weapons manufacturing and supplying than the games industry could ever hope to even make a miniscule dent in.

All that being said, I agree with dropping weapon licenses. Mainly because it seems pointless when one could either create original weapons or just design slightly obscure facsimiles of real world guns, like has been done for ages.

 

[Longstreet]

I actually hope this will work.

Not a chance. This was just the politicians doing some nice PR. EA had to do this, in order to look good. All of them are giving money to the arms industry, so they can have the guns. If game companies stop paying, the industry will do it for free or even pay for such broad marketing.

I know that, but thanks mate.

Spoiler

Can we still get some more Experimental-MIRV's though instead of another MTAR or variant on that.

 

[RicoADF]

Yeah, fuck those 200 year old laws. Freedom of Speech, petitioning the government? Who needs that? Right to not incriminate yourself? So long. Freedom of Religion? Idiotic. Not being required to house soldiers on your property? You should be glad to do such a service! Requiring a warrant to search someone's house? Gets in the way of "security" and that's important. Right to a trial? Please, we already know who is guilty. The media tells us that stuff, duh. Jury trials for large monetary claims? Last year. Protection from cruel and unusual punishment? Burn it. Placing all other powers with the states or people themselves? What sort of nonsense is this?

Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy!

Those laws are still valid, the right to bear arms without restriction is not. In a modern civilized country there is no need to have access to assault rifles and other military grade equipment. Pistols and rifles for shooting ranges/collections fine, it's fun, but who needs a M4A1 :-/

EDIT: To clarify, a fully operational assault rifle. Deactivated ones for collectors to put on shelves etc I have no issues with.

 

[Doom972]

I like his name. It makes me think of an anthropomorphic shark wearing a suit.

While I don't agree with his reasoning, I never really cared if guns in games were 100% accurate depictions of real world guns.

With that said, he's still wrong, and has no business asking this from video game makers. How about not licensing real guns to people who have no good reason to have a gun in the first place? The Sandy Hook shooter got his guns from his mom, who trained her son with her legally owned guns.

Also, I'm tired of this US-centric approach. Why not look at other countries where gun crimes aren't that frequent and video games are at least as popular, and then find out what's wrong with you?

 

[RicoADF]

I like his name. It makes me think of an anthropomorphic shark wearing a suit.

While I don't agree with his reasoning, I never really cared if guns in games were 100% accurate depictions of real world guns.

With that said, he's still wrong, and has no business asking this from video game makers. How about not licensing real guns to people who have no good reason to have a gun in the first place? The Sandy Hook shooter got his guns from his mom, who trained her son with her legally owned guns.

Also, I'm tired of this US-centric approach. Why not look at other countries where gun crimes aren't that frequent and video games are at least as popular, and then find out what's wrong with you?

The problem is culture. In the US they have a very "be the best, focus on yourself", it revolves around doing whats good for you and makes you look good over whats right. This is in part why Microsoft and other massive US companies are so blind to the consumers rights and find EU etc laws so perplexing. Due to this culture people over there are a lot more aggressive than other western nations, which mixed with guns gives a deadly result. Add to that the massive poverty problem due to ridiculously low pay requirements and it's not getting any better.

And yes I have been to the US and yes this is based on experience, both in person and online.

 

[Saltyk]

Yeah, fuck those 200 year old laws. Freedom of Speech, petitioning the government? Who needs that? Right to not incriminate yourself? So long. Freedom of Religion? Idiotic. Not being required to house soldiers on your property? You should be glad to do such a service! Requiring a warrant to search someone's house? Gets in the way of "security" and that's important. Right to a trial? Please, we already know who is guilty. The media tells us that stuff, duh. Jury trials for large monetary claims? Last year. Protection from cruel and unusual punishment? Burn it. Placing all other powers with the states or people themselves? What sort of nonsense is this?

Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy!

Those laws are still valid, the right to bear arms without restriction is not. In a modern civilized country there is no need to have access to assault rifles and other military grade equipment. Pistols and rifles for shooting ranges/collections fine, it's fun, but who needs a M4A1 :-/

Which is why you can't buy or legally own a fully automatic weapon without a license. Also, BATFA regulates all gun purchases and selling a gun illegally is grounds to lose one's license to sell guns. Most guns that are sold are semi-automatic. It's not particularly hard to modify such guns into fully automatic, though. Still not something that is legal to own.

And you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with military grade equipment. Anywhere.

If someone does have such equipment, they likely got it on the black market or stole it from the military. Where do you think groups like the ZETAs got their arms? Some random gun store?

 

[RicoADF]

Do you even know the first thing of America's true problems? Not the cut down version CNN or fox news give, but the real version? The real story that isn't meant for shit slinging?

America's gun problem is gang/cartel based. America has a gang problem because our inability to let things go in the cold war. We fucked up and destabilized Latin America because we were scared of communists "invading" from the south.

So once those countries were stuck in perpetual hell, drug trades emerged. Did you ever find it suspicious that the giant drug trade propped up during the cold war seemingly overnight?

It grew and now we have a huge crime problem. Not only that, but even the FBI is scared it might be corrupted by the Cartels like Mexico was, because they see more and more cartel influence in the US military to steal weapons.

America doesn't know what to do now because it spent its time going after Russia in the cold war and now the cartels have big enough teeth that it keeps America away. If America fights, we would most likely have the bloodiest "war" since vietnam. If America doesn't fight, it becomes corrupted and the cartels can't be rooted out anymore. These cartels have big guns, it has the military training, it has the money, and it has the guerilla tactics that are known to be the bane of America's military.

Any attempt to fully fight the cartels will be a blood bath for America, and America is too scared to lose soldiers for fear of another war coming over the horizon. Even legalization is no longer an option to fight the cartels due to their sheer size and diversification.

Guns aren't America's issue. Its a symptom. Even countries with a lot of guns don't have the crime issue America has, and that's because of our short sighted imperialism and our drug policies that festered for decades with no counter.

America doesn't want to fix the crime problem because frankly it can't. Not without compromising its position on the world stage or its strength, something America spent decades and made plenty of sacrifices to maintain.

I knew the drug cartels were a massive issue, didn't realise it had linked to the cold war. Unfortuently it's just one of many issues today resulting from the cold war and weapons falling in the wrong hands.

Thanks for enlightening me about that, I had never noticed the connection between the 2. I'd offer you a beer if you were here

 

[Spartanmk1]

-snip-

Then stop buying them.

Personally, I like supporting Magpul, Ruger, Palmetto State Armory, Colt, and hell, even Glock to name a few.

Because these companies actually employ real Americans in factory positions. The workers are paid very well, and they make a quality product. Since I can't afford a new Ruger SR-15 or Colt 1991 series 1911, I will gladly buy a game that throws them royalties. Why? Because they are great companies, they are great employers, and they make fantastic products.

So, either walk your walk and stop buying games that license to gun manufactures to have the privilege of using their design in a game, or stop your whining.

 

[RicoADF]

Which is why you can't buy or legally own a fully automatic weapon without a license. Also, BATFA regulates all gun purchases and selling a gun illegally is grounds to lose one's license to sell guns. Most guns that are sold are semi-automatic. It's not particularly hard to modify such guns into fully automatic, though. Still not something that is legal to own.

And you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with military grade equipment. Anywhere.

If someone does have such equipment, they likely got it on the black market or stole it from the military. Where do you think groups like the ZETAs got their arms? Some random gun store?

A semi automatic assault rifle is still an assault rifle. Like I said, semi auto or not, a M16 or M4 is not required by the general public as an operational weapon.

If you disagree then fine, that's your right, but I don't and never will understand how a country that's suppose to be civilized requires assault weapons to be civilian legal.

 

[Colt47]

Will the political party I vote for please stop making themselves look like idiots? If they want to strike at the firearm industry financials they should aim to stop gun and munition exporting. Not that they'd realistically succeed, but at least they would look a little more intelligent.

 

[Kennetic]

Which is why you can't buy or legally own a fully automatic weapon without a license. Also, BATFA regulates all gun purchases and selling a gun illegally is grounds to lose one's license to sell guns. Most guns that are sold are semi-automatic. It's not particularly hard to modify such guns into fully automatic, though. Still not something that is legal to own.

And you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with military grade equipment. Anywhere.

If someone does have such equipment, they likely got it on the black market or stole it from the military. Where do you think groups like the ZETAs got their arms? Some random gun store?

A semi automatic assault rifle is still an assault rifle. Like I said, semi auto or not, a M16 or M4 is not required by the general public as an operational weapon.

If you disagree then fine, that's your right, but I don't and never will understand how a country that's suppose to be civilized requires assault weapons to be civilian legal.

An assault rifle, by definition, has select fire capability. An AR-15 is no different than any other semi-automatic rifle except that it has plastic parts on it. The round they fire is tiny in comparison to most hunting rounds by the way. Go compare a 5.56/.223 to a 30-06.

 

[Sofus]

So we're going back to having lame unrealistic weapons in games which resemble our current day and age? That would be as stupid as not having the Thompson or 1911 in a WW2 or Mafia game.

 

[Saltyk]

Which is why you can't buy or legally own a fully automatic weapon without a license. Also, BATFA regulates all gun purchases and selling a gun illegally is grounds to lose one's license to sell guns. Most guns that are sold are semi-automatic. It's not particularly hard to modify such guns into fully automatic, though. Still not something that is legal to own.

And you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with military grade equipment. Anywhere.

If someone does have such equipment, they likely got it on the black market or stole it from the military. Where do you think groups like the ZETAs got their arms? Some random gun store?

A semi automatic assault rifle is still an assault rifle. Like I said, semi auto or not, a M16 or M4 is not required by the general public as an operational weapon.

If you disagree then fine, that's your right, but I don't and never will understand how a country that's suppose to be civilized requires assault weapons to be civilian legal.

Tools are tools. Nothing more. You should have problems with those using, or misusing, the tools. Not the tools themselves. I'm sure someone could make the same argument you just did for any number of things. Ranging from cars/trucks to religion. Besides, so called "assault weapons" are hardly used in crime. Pistols are far more frequently used.

And there are some statistics that claim that guns are most often used as a tool of self defense and as a deterrent. Often without a single shot being fired. The exact number isn't agreed upon, but one of the lowest numbers I've heard was around 50,000 times a year (compared to a TOTAL gun deaths of 30,000). Of course, I've also heard them as high as 2.5 million a year. That high end is probably unrealistic, but even the low end is worth noting. And I've even heard that low end used as a claim for why guns don't deter crime, so it could even be unrealistically low.

 

[drschplatt]

"research has shown little connection between the virtual gun violence depicted in your games and the actual gun violence that claims the lives of 33 Americans every single day,"

and then forgets to tell you that guns are used in self-defense 6,850 times a day.

~Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, "Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense With a Gun," 86 The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Northwestern University School of Law, 1 (Fall 1995)

 

[Gearhead mk2]

This is still completely moronic, but at least he's being civil about it instead of going on about how teh gaymes r the satanz and should be burned at the stake.

 

[RicoADF]

Tools are tools. Nothing more. You should have problems with those using, or misusing, the tools. Not the tools themselves. I'm sure someone could make the same argument you just did for any number of things. Ranging from cars/trucks to religion. Besides, so called "assault weapons" are hardly used in crime. Pistols are far more frequently used.

And there are some statistics that claim that guns are most often used as a tool of self defense and as a deterrent. Often without a single shot being fired. The exact number isn't agreed upon, but one of the lowest numbers I've heard was around 50,000 times a year (compared to a TOTAL gun deaths of 30,000). Of course, I've also heard them as high as 2.5 million a year. That high end is probably unrealistic, but even the low end is worth noting. And I've even heard that low end used as a claim for why guns don't deter crime, so it could even be unrealistically low.

I agree their tools and the user is the issue, we just disagree on weather the general public needs access to the tool or weather its better off not being allowed. I'll leave it at that and just say lets agree to disagree.

EDIT: I'd just like to say probably the main reason for the disagreement is that we live in different worlds, over here in Australia there is no need for guns, their a collectors item or for the shooting range. Police etc have them but general public don't have the need. I'm trying to say the US needs to work towards improving themselves to not need them, like everyone else.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

What difference will this make but force devs to come up with a lot of really weird and stupid names for assault rifles?

This particularly makes no sense for the weapons that have no copyright. You'll note that pretty much any WWII game uses the proper names for the weapons because the copyrights are all well out of date.

We should tell him to try and do something that will actually have an effect. Oh, but that might be hard and he might fail, then he might not get reelected.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

Thats roughly the same as giving a person a sweater so they dont get cold... in the desert...

Not to pick apart your analogy, but as a hint incase you ever find yourself in the unlikely conundrum of being trapped in a desert - it gets really damn cold in a desert at night, you're gonna want that sweater, and during the day it can help keep the sun off your skin ((that's why lots of desert dwellers are wrapped up from head to toe in robes and head-garbs and stuff)).

---

But yeah, seems really stupid to be calling on games when the real guns are so readily available. I guess maybe they figure they can't make much headway with the real guns, so they're choosing the lesser battles they may be able to effect. I guess if enough petitioners(i guess that's what you'd call him/them?) get together game makers can use it as an excuse to not pay licensing fees to gun makers, if nobody is using real gun names, then there's less pressure for others to follow suit, avoiding an unnecessary expense there.