Games blamed for rise in cop killings

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Games blamed for rise in cop killings
Tweet Topic Started: Oct 3 2007, 07:36 PM (574 Views)
Deleted User	Oct 3 2007, 07:36 PM Post #1
Deleted User	From Gamespot "Games blamed in cop-killing surge In 2003, then-18-year-old Devin Moore gained national attention for blaming his shooting of three police officers in Alabama on Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto III. In representing the families of the deceased in a civil suit, anti-violent game activist Jack Thompson said, "[The game] industry has targeted, with the most popular and violent game in history, every police officer in America and put a bull's eye on their back." Reminiscent of Thompson's sentiments, a recent report on the nationwide increase in police shootings by Time mentions violent video games as a theorized contributing factor. Police-officer shooting deaths are up nearly 60 percent year-over-year according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. According to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, law enforcement trainer and author of On Combat and On Killing, there is a strong correlation between games and police shootings. "Every time they take down a gang house, there's always one thing that will always be there," he said in the article. "It's a video game. The video games are their newspaper, their television, their all-consuming narrative. And their video games are all cop-killer, criminal simulators." The article addresses several other potential correlates to the rise in cop killings this year. These include an increase in military-grade weapons on the street, a recent trend in gang initiations that target officers, and the fact that police officers on average miss their target 70 to 90 percent of the time while firing in the line of duty".
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Deleted User	Oct 3 2007, 07:51 PM Post #2
Deleted User	Videogames are pure evil and must be to blame. Forget how easily weapons can be accessed. Forget poverty, depravation and poor education. Yeah, forget that stuff and blame videogames instead. :mellow: How many people play games? And how many of them decide that they enjoyed GTA so much that they'll try to shoot a cop? This kind of crap keeps coming up but it seems no-one wants to look at other issues. And it seems like the solution being rolled out is giving cops "AR 15s, a military-grade assault weapon", because they feel they are outgunned. So what happens if criminals manage to get anti-tank guns? Do the police get bazookas/RPGs/rocket launchers? Anyway, my favorite line is this: "the fact that police officers on average miss their target 70 to 90 percent of the time while firing in the line of duty". Yeah, cos if the police shot the person first then that would solve the problem. shakes head
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dataDyne	Oct 3 2007, 08:04 PM Post #3
Forum Dinosaur! Posts: 4,137 Group: Senior Members Member #4 Joined: April 13, 2006	This article is beyond pathetic. As Alxbly already pointed out, everybody seems to forget about the myriad of other factors that could lead to police officer shootings. No, instead the cause simply has to be Grand Theft Auto. If Grand Theft Auto truly is the cause of this cop shooting, then the game itself cannot be blamed. Rockstar doesn't encourage consumers to go out and emulate the activities of Carl Johnson or Tommy Vercetti outside their living room. It's the person's own choice to become involved in criminal activities. I'm a huge fan of the GTA games but does that mean I condone such actions? :rolleyes:
	Give this man a fish, and he can throw it up eleven times -alxbly PSN: LifeIsPreachy Mario Kart Wii: 0088 - 2869 - 9843


Deleted User	Oct 3 2007, 08:10 PM Post #4
Deleted User	In our next article: "Why sales of Halo 3 have caused the numbers of alien shootings to rise" I'd hate to be an extra-terrestrial just now. Also, do video games cause people to be bad drivers? That never seems to make the headlines.
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dagoss	Oct 3 2007, 08:14 PM Post #5
Smarty Pants Posts: 2,884 Group: Senior Members Member #29 Joined: September 20, 2006	Strange that Gamespot would post that. It isn't really in their interest and it doesn't accurately represent the situation. It misrepresents against themselves -- well played!



Mr.378	Oct 3 2007, 10:13 PM Post #6
The Fallen Hero Posts: 1,045 Group: Members Member #93 Joined: July 8, 2007	This story is pathetic.... 200th post



Applepieman	Oct 4 2007, 01:29 PM Post #7
Veteran Posts: 1,147 Group: Senior Members Member #83 Joined: June 3, 2007	Strangely I'm doing a paper about how videogames does not cause violence



Mr.378	Oct 4 2007, 02:20 PM Post #8
The Fallen Hero Posts: 1,045 Group: Members Member #93 Joined: July 8, 2007	^... What?



dataDyne	Oct 4 2007, 05:07 PM Post #9
Forum Dinosaur! Posts: 4,137 Group: Senior Members Member #4 Joined: April 13, 2006	Mr.378 Oct 4 2007, 02:20 PM ^... What? A paper = an article
	Give this man a fish, and he can throw it up eleven times -alxbly PSN: LifeIsPreachy Mario Kart Wii: 0088 - 2869 - 9843


Mr.378	Oct 4 2007, 05:53 PM Post #10
The Fallen Hero Posts: 1,045 Group: Members Member #93 Joined: July 8, 2007	No, not THAT, I mean how video games DON'T cause Violance, that's a little...Wierd.



dagoss	Oct 4 2007, 06:08 PM Post #11
Smarty Pants Posts: 2,884 Group: Senior Members Member #29 Joined: September 20, 2006	Mr.378 Oct 4 2007, 06:53 PM No, not THAT, I mean how video games DON'T cause Violance, that's a little...Wierd. Well there isn't strong evidence to say that video games are more likely to cause violence than books or movies or something else. Being prone to violence is part of a subject's personality type and not playing games. It is likely the crime would have been committed with or without the game. The evidence that suggests a correlation is very subjective.



Mr.378	Oct 4 2007, 08:14 PM Post #12
The Fallen Hero Posts: 1,045 Group: Members Member #93 Joined: July 8, 2007	^That point is hard to get across with all this Propaganda.



Mop it up	Oct 5 2007, 12:15 AM Post #13
Forum Urban Legend Posts: 5,802 Group: Staff (Ret.) Member #24 Joined: August 8, 2006	alxbly Oct 3 2007, 09:51 PM Anyway, my favorite line is this: "the fact that police officers on average miss their target 70 to 90 percent of the time while firing in the line of duty". This actually makes me wonder what kind of weapons training they are getting. No test I know of allows people to pass by scoring 30%.


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