GyroCaptain said:
To turn around and blame familiarity with firearms for similar reasons games are blamed is very iffy. I'm a practiced handler of firearms and haven't done anything of this type. The fact that they always turn the guns on themselves and shoot other people has as much break from firearms etiquette as from game procedure.
Let me turn it that way: I think 14 guns in a household are more dangerous than 14 FPS on a harddisk. Personally I don't see any reason why someone should have a gun next to his bed in a normal european city. I understand that in certain areas having a gun gives a feeling of security.
I also don't want to take away a rifle from someone who likes to hunt. But I don't see why someone needs more than a dozen weapons. I like painting, but that doesn't mean that I have 50kg of oil color in my basement. 13 of the weapons were locked up, good. But one pistol wasn't, together with hundreds of bullets. In western european cities there is no need for carrying a firearm around, neither for storing one in your bedroom. You might argue now that if he was nuts he might have found another way of killing people. You can kill someone with a knife as well, any sharp object, or a wooden chair. Of course, but firearms make it easier. I don't think Tim K. would have done that much harm with a kitchen knife and harsh language.
My father was with the police for 40 years. He never let a gun unlocked at home. When he had to store his pistol at home (because he was on standby for example) he locked it up with the clip in a seperate place. He always told me a gun at home is too dangerous and there is no need for it. That is what I call responsible gun owner. Someone who keeps a pistol with hundreds of bullets unlocked is not what I called a responsible gun owner. I lived next door to a prison for 3 years (cheap rent). Neither I nor one of my neighbours had a gun or felt that we need one. I lived in a red light district for 4 years (also cheap rent). No need for a gun either.
"Getötet hat Tim K. mit einer Pistole ? nicht mit der Maustaste" Ganz toll Artikel. Aber, ihr Statement, die Hexen gebrennt waren ist nicht so richtig. Am meistens waren Hexen 'crushed' und 'Heretics' gebrennt. (Apologies for any obvious errors, 'Hay gys I no Germns')
Burning of witches was very common in west and central europe for some time. But true, heretics (Ketzer ;-)) have been considered more dangerous than witches and were hunted. But as far as I know they burned both.
But nice to see someone understanding german ;-)
The point I'd like to make is that responsibility for your actions is entirely your own; games didn't brainwash the kid, but neither did anything else.
Of course, that is one of the points of the article I linked to: blaming computer games (or firearms or toasted bacon or McDonalds or whatever) is the search for an easy solution. Only problem: it isn't one. But in times like these everyone wants to have an easy solution for everything, neglecting the fact that life is complex and when there is a simple solution, it's usually wrong.
) don't jump on the train to join the burning of witches, but they are few.
