Shooting Close to Home

With the shootings in Newtown, CT, only 30 minutes from my home, I can't seem to stay far enough away from all the gun talks. I generally don't have much opinion about guns, which is unusual, if you know me. I certainly don't condone violence, however, I do not disagree with Americans' rights to own weapons, within reason. Assault weapons seem a tad unnecessary, considering that most people don't have to ward off mobs of people if they did nothing wrong. Regardless, of my side in the argument, I would like to switch to the topic of the correlation between violent video games and gun violence. 

Unfortunately, I do not have much background knowledge on the ties between virtual violence and in-real-life (IRL) violence. I understand the concern people (mostly parents) have with their children learning about violence in video games, and how that might be cause for actual violence. Based on research, however, I have learned, and been aware of, the fact that there is no statistical correlation between the two. According to this Washington Post Article on Video Games and Gun Violence, video games have increased in popularity among kids, yet youth violence has declined in recent years. 

From my own experience, I would like to point out one thing I noticed in myself. After playing Grand Theft Auto 4 with my friends at one of my friends houses, I would have to drive back home. For some reason, I would almost always have a weird sense of invincibility. When I got in my car, I could almost feel myself being able to drift and skid my car around corners. Acceleration also seemed a lot less dangerous. Although I had this weird sense, my driving was never truly affected. I was always totally aware of how to drive properly, but that feeling was still in the back of my head. 

The last thing I would like to point out is a reader's comment at the end of the Washington Post article linked above. The reader wrote "I read this article the other day, this girl is a video game blogger and although she's new to the scene she presents an outstanding and well written article about how it's not the medias fault we're violent, it's our own fault. She references our own history in the process and puts these critics to shame." I'm glad someone did their research. We need more people like this guy.