OH MY GOD YOU HAVE A GUN BLOG

[Phantomgrift]

Merc, no, nothing new has been said.
Same tired arguments on both side. Even Desp's anti-gun rant is same old hat.

I've been more amused by articles appearing in things like the Washington Journal talking about Bushmaster rifle laws in New York.
Claims about which variant is or isn't legal, etc. Thing is, the picture they used to depict the "type of Bushmaster available" in New York? Was actually a variant that is illegal to sale in New York. Mostly I'm just amused and sad in how the media like to mislabel photos or gun "facts" because it adds more "alarm" factor to their story.

[Sorce]

[Phantomgrift]

Um, I've yet to ever see any article put out by the NRA state that video games are to blame for violent shootings.

I'm a member, get their newsletters, magazines, etc. There's lots of stories on legalities, gun laws today in the U.S., hunting conservation, stories about crimes prevented/stopped by a legally armed citizen against an intruder, etc. But not much have I seen in the way of them trying to blame video games.

Now, people like Desp and other liberal types? They blame everyone on shootings outside of the person responsible. Because in the end, liberal means the government takes care of everything and personal responsibility is a moot point that society is to immature to deal with.

[mercan01]

LaPierre did explicitly mention violent ideo games in his press conference. Here's the link from the Washington Post (transcript of press conference):

Here's a relevant quote where he mentions media in a damning light:

LAPIERRE: And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal. There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like “Bullet Storm,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “Mortal Combat,” and “Splatterhouse.”

And here’s one, it’s called “Kindergarten Killers.” It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research staff can find it, and all of yours couldn’t? Or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it? Add another hurricane, add another natural disaster. I mean we have blood-soaked films out there, like “American Psycho,” “Natural Born Killers.” They’re aired like propaganda loops on Splatterdays and every single day.

[Emoore]

[Phantomgrift]

Hmmm, can't say I agree with him in regards to the video-games. Though I'd also need to see the full thing when I get a chance to. (I'm at work on lunch.)

While I'm not going to say that video games or violent movies directly causes gun violence, it's a sociological proven fact that American society as a whole is desensitized in regards to violence that would have shocked or appalled earlier generations.

Something that also stood out in my mind as a personal example of that was when my family was visiting relatives in Texas when I was, I dunno, 10? Some cable movie was running in the background and opened with a guy bloodlessly shotgunning another guy in a field. My grandmother saw it and reacted very visibly distraught at such a callous portrayal. I seem to recall that I couldn't understand why it bothered her so much as it was a bad-guy shooting someone, and that's what bad guys did, they shot people.

But yeah, I'd need to see what context he's looking for.
The "American's are exposed to a glut of violence everywhere..." bit? Or something more like the tawdry Readers Digest article I ran across back in the late nineties that boiled down to "OMG! Your Precious Little Tyke Will Grow Up To Be A Psychopath If They So Much As Turn On A Playstation or Nintendo!"?