It’s so predictable it’s sad.
1. Mass shooting occurs
2. Gun control proponents blame guns
3. Pro-gun people blame everything BUT guns (specifically video games)
4. Real issues get missed (specifically mental health and how violent, mentally ill people get their hands on weapons)
5. Wait for next, inevitable mass shooting.
And so this morning when the professional trolls over at Fox and Friends and across the conservative media sphere (golly, do you think it was maybe somehow coordinated?) decided to blame video games on a day when much of nerddom is rejoicing over the release of Grand Theft Auto V, we have to say something.
We’ve opined on this before. Repeatedly. I don’t think it comes as any shock that there is absolutely zero link between violent video games and gun violence. Yes, please go read this amazing rundown of facts, but here’s a short version told in a picture:
If there was literally any causal link between the two, then you should be able to see it there. But somehow, the countries who play more video games than the US still have less violence. FAR less.
So what’s new? Well, unfortunately, while Congress seems unable to act on anything of actual importance these days, they did somehow manage to pass S.134: The Violent Content Research Act of 2013 out of committee, meaning it could be brought to the Senate for a vote at any time. The bill would ask the National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control to study if video games “have a unique impact on children, considering in particular video games’ interactive nature and the extraordinarily personal and vivid way violence might be portrayed in such video games.” SPOILER ALERT: they don’t.
Unfortunately, this seems to be also one of those issues both Democrats and Republicans can agree on: blame video games! So it looks like we could waste more time and money studying this issue instead of ignoring the non-existent connection between violent video games and mass shootings. But it’s probably going to be the thing we take action on, because it’s something we can do.
But I know, I know. . .many of these shooters played video games. Guess what? They all also wore pants. They breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. They probably all ate from one restaurant at one time (I’ll pick Arby’s and Long John Silver’s at random).
See, here’s how science works: to prove something caused something else, you have to take a randomized sample of people, and have one control group of people not do the thing you’re studying and then have the experiment group do the thing you’re studying.
So they all played video games. So do most males age 13-30. But there is no signicant difference in the video game playing habits of those who go on mass shootings compared to those who do not. But it sure makes an easy scapegoat.
On a side note, I also had a friend just post this on Facebook:
Because if we’re going to start taking anecdotal evidence, let’s take the good with the bad.