As most of you probably already know, there was yet another shooting at a high school this past Friday (Dec. 13th) at Arapahoe High School in Colorado. A young lady, Claire Davis (17) is clinging for her life after being shot by a classmate that was upset with one of the high school's staff members for kicking him out of a club.
Without a doubt, this tragedy is going to raise, once again, the debate over gun control and regardless of which side of that argument you may be on, there is another underlying issue that has seemed to go ignored. Soon after the infamous Columbine massacre research revealed that access to guns amongst youth as actually declined over the years. In other words, a high school student growing up in the 60s or 70s would more likely have access to gun than a high school student today. It would go without saying that the further back in time that you'd go, the greater that number would increase (student's having access to guns). Therefore, there has to be another issue of which needs to be addressed: WHY? Why are students deciding to use such extreme methods as a solution to their problems?
I could literally go into a deep and philosophical discussion here, for this is an issue that I have a lot of opinions on, but I'll not reveal my viewpoints here. Yet, I would love to hear your input on this topic. I honestly do believe that it is a topic that needs to be discussed, locally, on the state level and on the federal level - and that topic isn't about gun control.
BLOG TOPIC: WHY!? Why are today's youth resorting to such extreme methods as a resolution to their problems? Is society, as a whole, responsible or is this due to a major break down of the American family? Do you believe that this is simply a "gun control" issue?
Again: please make sure you are respectful of each other's opinions...
This week's blog topic was suggested by the Key Element.
I definitely don’t think this issue is purely about gun control. While I do think it will help to create stricter laws involving who can buy a gun, this issue should go further in the direction of evaluating the behavior of today’s generation. Immediately after I read Mr. Gehm’s intro two words popped into my head: Video Games. While people argue that video games do not have any link to today’s gun violence, I beg to differ. Teenagers who play video games, which mostly involve killing other players with guns, it desensitizes individuals to real life violence. This was proved in numerous experiments and if you think I’m wrong literally just google “Video Game Desensitize Experiments” and a bunch will be available to read about or go to this link: http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/07/28/video-games-desensitize-to-real-violence . Seeing these images of murderer and war is changing the way our brain reacts to violence and glamorizes it. And the proof is in the pudding. Mr. Gehm revealed young people had less access to guns years ago. So how can there be so much violence today and not 40 years ago? What can be the trigger? Why now? It’s the constant view young men and women have of violence. Violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty were not on the market years ago. And this even stretches farther than video games; the media, movies, and comic books glorify violence as the right of passage when solving an issue. The older generation was not exposed to the graphic scenes of violence day in and day out. That is why in today’s world gun violence is so rampant.
ReplyDeleteI respect your opinion but I think that you are 100 percent wrong here. Are you really telling me that video games cause a human to go out and kill other human beings? It makes no sense. I agree that video games do desensitize us to war, but they definitely do not cause people to kill others. For example, guess the guy who was involved in the Sandy Hook shooting's favorite game. Call of Duty? Battlefield? No, it was a dancing game. People saw this kid in the arcade playing a dancing game for hours a day. I can not, and will not, believe that the human mind is weak enough to allow video games to make a human kill others. We are all born with natural instincts, and I think that shooting innocent people is against our nature. This is not a fault with games, its a fault with the brain. Plus I'm pretty sure that there was plenty of violent events in the past that kids were exposed to. I mean during World War 2 America practically said to join the military so that you can kill Nazis. You could even look back to were people offered prices on Native American scalps. What I'm trying to say is that kids have been always exposed to violence.
DeleteMaya I agree that 'violent' video games does influence the actions of those who are exposed to it. Again, teens are still developing mentally, emotionally and physically and if they don't have the proper guidance and are constantly exposed to such video games that promotes violence, they are most likely to act it out. And Bishoy, as for your statement "during World War 2 America practically said to join the military so that you can kill Nazis....kids have been always exposed to violence." true, they were exposed to violence and stuff, but that's different from kids who actually play violent games. I mean most of these video games are in the first person point of view or first person shooter or something. So, these video games actually transports them in and thus it's a different kind of violence.
DeleteI completely agree with you that video games influence the way people act. They are definitely a factor in people shooting each other. However, I think there are many other causes as well as the video games. I think that as Bishoy said they don't impact everyone the same way, but have the potential to influence people
DeleteMaya and abu im sorry i cannot come to an agrement with you on this one completely. Video Games. Do they glorify violence, guns, war, and killing. Yes. But they are not the cause, reason , or motive for these shootings! Violent video games like the famous Gta and Call of duty have been around for years! Gta since 1998 and Cod since 2002. Other than that; other video are violent too. So what makes this years video games the cause and not the past decade? Makes you wonder
DeleteThere is definitely no correlation between video games and an increase in violence. If one cannot distinguish the difference between a video game and reality that is a posing issue that can be fixed through education and parental guidance. Additionally, you cannot place video games as the center of the increase because it doesn't contribute to each case of violence. What about the girls? What about the non-video game players? There is a universal issue to this all called a lack of education and guidance!!!
DeleteI really hate when people blame guns for all these shootings. And I hate more how politicians are feeding off of people's emotions just to get votes, and then ignoring the issue completely. We need a solution for this issue, but first we need to identify the problem. So what is the problem?
ReplyDeleteThe problem for these shootings is most definitely a psychological problem, not a gun issue. What in the world causes a human to kill other innocent humans? Why does someone want to kill people that he probably never talked to or seen in his life, and then have the will to put a gun to his head and kill himself? This is something unnatural, and something must be really wrong with that persons brain.
I really want everyone to realize the extent of the problem in the country, so I am going to bring up the tragic sandy hook shooting: On December 14, 2012 a man entered an elementary school. That's right, an elementary school full of little innocent and happy kids playing. He then fatally shot twenty children and six adults. I can't even think of this atrocious scene. What the heck makes a man want to kill? How can someone shoot a young child? Literally in almost every culture the most evil and uncivilized thing to do is to shoot a young child. Their needs to be more research done on the psychological aspects of shootings. We need to stop caring about what guns he used or how many bullets he had, and focus more on the motives.
Now for the shooting at Arapahoe High School, it looks like the shooting was due to an undisciplined child. But take a closer look. This boy picked up a weapon to kill a specific target, shot a young girl, and then killed himself. I'm sorry but I am not believing that this was due to the fact that the boy was undisciplined. This boy did not have that thing in his brain that told him how killing humans is wrong. This problem is caused because certain humans have a messed up brain.
Ok Bish I completely agree with you that this is a psychological issue. But can you please explain how by researching about the psychological issue we can resolve the problem? Because I believe that the research has been done but I don't think we have a solution to this problem. Please explain your solution if you think there is one.
DeleteBishoy I agree that the shootings and violence that is plaguing our society is more of a psychological problem and not about gun control. As I said in my post, why blame the guns, when people are the ones who can pull the trigger. Also, as for your statements or rather questions why would a man kill, I believe there are several factors that can lead him to commit such violence. For example, his environment, lack of guidance, and perhaps he is just sick in mind and no one ever notices. like the shooter from sandy hook, he must have been showing signs of violence or something that would foreshadow his action, but those around him weren't able to pick it up or something. So, there wasn't anything they could do to help him or stop his actions. As much I despise and loathe what he did, I feel sorry for him because I think, to be able to do what he did, he must have been really lonely, sick and disturb but no one was able to recognize that.
DeleteBishoy you said "Their needs to be more research done on the psychological aspects of shootings. We need to stop caring about what guns he used or how many bullets he had, and focus more on the motives." I believe that we have enough research done and can see how these people psychologically perform. However, I don't think we have a solution to this problem. What we can do though is regulate the motives that transform people psychologically, such as video games.
DeleteBish I do agree, that psychological issue is a factor in shooting, as well as that "why blame guns" because as i have said before, i have yet to see a gun put itslef up and shoot someone. People are the ones who pull the triggers. But, what I don't undertsand is that why do you say we should do more research about these pyschological issues. Because I do not think anymore research needs to be done. I think that all that has needed to be done is done. There is only so much a person can do. i do not feel that can be a solution to the the shooting problems.
DeleteBishoy , because i am not in the mood to write another comment argueing media; i will write one agreeing with you. And B great minds think alike dont they! I must agree with you! Even if we may be wrong in many eyes i dont feel and defend media especially violent videogames which have been around a verg long time and only now cause shootings? Please! Well done good man!
DeleteHold up here Maya. First off we do not have any research done for the psychological aspects of shootings. And that being said, we can not regulate their motives because we do not know what their motives are! You can't just assume that video games cause people to kill. It does not logically make sense. We need more research before people like you decide to ban all video games and movies in the country because we THINK its the problem.
DeleteI agree Bish. There is a grander aspect to violence than the generic gun control and media arguments. The problem is we do not know why these actions are occurring. As I stated a million times, it would be a good point to compare the backgrounds of the most prominent shooters; including their home environments and education experience. I don't think we need to "increase the amount of psychiatrists" like everyone else states, but the best way to attack this problem is to attack it on a smaller scale. We need to start in the communities and work our way up from there; some communities may need more attention than others.
DeleteI like how you said that killing is a psychological problem, this is a true statement. A person is obviously not in the right state of mind if they are planning or going to take someone else’s life. It is absurd to think that the problem is guns.
DeleteAs cliche as it may sound, guns don't kill people, people kill people, and on that note, gun control issue has little to do with the violence plaguing today's society. I mean, when you think about it, obviously guns can't pull their own triggers and they can't aim themselves, thus the violence observed in our world is solely the fault of people, who has the ability to pull the trigger and aim. or people who are just irresponsible gun owners, who don't store their guns properly and safely.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many factors that contributes to the violence present in today's society. First, environmental influences. People who are constantly exposed to violence, pain and aggressiveness are most likely to mirror their environment. It is like, if you torture or abuse an animal, they are most likely to display violent behavior. Same goes to people especially to children and teens. Also, under this category is the way these children and teens are brought up and if they are properly guided. The people who commit these crimes such as the shooter from Sandy Hook, may have already displayed violent or aggressive behavior or something that foreshadows their act, but no one notices and no proper measures are taken. These people just don't wake up one day, and all of a sudden they're already a mess and screwed in the brain. Second, violent video games like GTA. Exposure to such simulation and all, can influence a teen's behavior, especially if the said teen, lacks proper guidance. I know people would disagree that such video games causes aggressiveness in teens, but you just can't rule out the psychological effects that such video games have on teens. Teens are still developing and maturing, mentally, physically and emotionally. So, they could easily be influenced by the nature of video games. And lastly, people who commit heinous crimes are probably just mentally sick. If they are stable, and healthy they wouldn't commit such crimes.
Do you believe that violent video games have the same negative impacts on everyone? Because I have played GTA before and I haven't been influenced the same way as other people.
DeleteYou said gun control has little to do with this issue. I sort of agree with you but not completely. Do you think that if we limited the access that people have to guns and regulated the selling of weapons we can take a step forward into resolving this issue?
DeleteI believe that violent video games impact people differently depending on what is the person's mental state. For example, people who are properly guided, raised wonderfully, are most likely to know that these video games are just games and are not supposed to be acted out in real life. However, there are kids out there who are unfortunately taken for granted and are not properly guided, that are influenced greatly by such violent nature. For example, the Columbine High school shooters, they were a fan of a video game called Doom and they eventually created their own game called Harris Levels. True, the influence of the video game did not alone caused their rampage, but it played a significant part in their actions.
DeleteI think, limiting or restricting the selling of guns would not solve anything. Sure, it could provide a sort of compromise to the problem because there will be limited access, but do you think guns is the major problem in the shootings? because, I believe that people are the problem and not the gun. People have issues, and some people are either not getting help or just can't handle it that they take such violent route. And as Bishoy said, its a psychological problem.
DeleteAnd to add to that, if access to guns were to be limited, then what would happen to those who actually use the gun for protection and not for crimes? A gun can be a person's life or it can be a person's death, it all depends on the mental state and purpose of the person who is carrying the gun
DeleteI agree with you post. Guns don’t have the ability to kill someone on their own, people control them. I do not think that this is the problem with all these murders. A person can commit murder with almost anything, so guns are most definitely not the central issue. The problem lies in the media that everyone is exposed to in today’s society.
DeleteToday’s youth is resorting to such extreme methods as a resolution to their problems for a variety of reasons. I believe that the reason behind each shooting and murder is different due to the different mental conditions of the people while commit them. One major factor that I believe impacts killing is media. By media I mean video games, movies, TV shows, etc. All of these materials greatly impact the mentality of the viewers. They have shown to cause many different changes psychologically in people. Another major influential factor in shootings are the upbringings of children by their families. Many people have a very tough childhood and often bottle up their emotions. Some face depression, resentment, and a combination of other emotions. They often resort to shootings to release these emotions. They look at it as their gateway. Others on the other hand desire attention. They want to do something that no one has ever done. For example, Arthur Bremer shot Richard Nixon because he said he wanted "to do SOMETHING BOLD AND DRAMATIC, FORCEFUL & DYNAMIC, A STATEMENT of my manhood for the world to see." Therefore, the issue is not completely a gun control issue or a break down of the American family, but the psychological transformation of people.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that media including movies, TV shows and video games impact people psychologically. Violent medias can definitely change the way these people think and often they become less reactive and sensitive to gory material. They begin to find it a normal aspect of life and as a result they aren't afraid to go out and shoot someone.
DeleteI agree that a major infuential factor in gun control is the upbrining of teh children, by his/her family. And as I said before, In today’s world, both parents work, there is no family time to teach, to learn, to love. If parents show children love and respect for other person, there would be a lack of disagreements. But, if one is not shown to care and respect others, he/she will not care whether a person lives or dies, it is very easy to just pull the trigger.
DeleteAgain, this time on the media aspect. Media can be corrupt, screwy, twisted ; and like video games glorify violence. But "GREATLY IMPACTED" people. Im sorry im forced to follow with a solid N O. Media made be corrupt but it takes an already mentaly unstable person or twisted human to commit such an act. Massacre children! something so serverly devastating does not come from media. Im sorry, it may have an effect but not to that extent.
DeleteOk I won't argue with you about the family issues, but I will argue about the social media. As I have stated numerous times, the media is not a big enough factor to allow someone to pick a weapon and go shoot someone. Also, violent movies have been going on since the mid/late 1900's, so why do you think that all of a sudden media is going to cause someone to shoot someone else? Also, I don't think attention is that big of an issue because most of these shootings end up with the shooter ending his own life. Not much good if you get attention but your dead.
DeletePeople kill other people for many different reasons. As many others have stated, this is not a gun issue but a psychological issue. Guns can’t kill someone without someone firing them. I believe that the bad intentions of these people arise for many different reasons. They are psychologically impacted through a variety of ways. One of the main reasons I think is the environment they live in. For example, stress and anger caused in a school may influence someone to take the life of someone else. These emotions can drastically change the way someone acts. As a result I don’t think we can really resolve this issue of killing. We can do more routine check ups to keep up the sanity of Americans, however, we just can’t fully control the environment someone lives in. In addition we can’t really keep people’s emotions under control. Another thing that I believe influences people to kill are videogames. They desensitize people to killing and there has been an abundance of research done to show the negative influence of violent games. However, I don’t think we can successfully limit the selling of such video games because they would cause great dissatisfaction nationwide and many would argue for freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you, that emotion caused from stress and suffering from school does take a life of its own, and we cannot solve teh issue of killing, but I do think we can minimize the number of kills. And though, the limiting of video games would, bring upon the arugment of freedom of speech, that may not be the only solution. I think that a major factor, to reduce crime rates would be the upbringing of the child. In today’s world, both parents work, there is no family time to teach, to learn, to love. If parents show children love and respect for other person, there would be a lack of disagreements. But, if one is not shown to care and respect others, he/she will not care whether a person lives or dies, it is very easy to just pull the trigger.
DeleteJen, I agree that there people who commit crimes have different reasons for committing it. And I somewhat disagree that there really is no solution to the "issue of killing" . Like do you think, that increasing security in schools, malls, and other places would at least limit public shootings and deaths? Because, true it'll be hard to solve the problem that causes shootings, but there are some measures that can be taken to prevent shootings from happening.
DeleteI emphatically agree with you when you state that playing violent games or being exposed to violent media desensitizes today's youth from violence.
DeleteGuns don’t shoot people. I have yet to see a gun pick itself up, and shoot someone. People shoot people. It is that person that decides to or to not pull that trigger. Gun control, to an extent does play somewhat of a role in the violent activities in our world today. One element that accords such activity, is today’s children are prone more than ever to violence due to involvement of video games and the violent movies in a person’s life. The playing of such vicious games intensifies the belligerent violence in a person. This generates psychological disorders and converting a person into someone totally different. And that’s where the issue of a mental illness can come into play, which does affect one’s way to think. In addition, mood-altering drugs can also play tricks on ones’ mind, and prohibits one to think straight as well, causing hasty decisions to be made and the committing of savage crimes. Other elements include the decline in family values, and ethics, and any additional influences in society today. While, teens are playing video games, which are somewhat guiding them how to kill, parents are too busy with their own affairs to care. There is no respect taught for the life of another and solving problems with a gun is just as easy as solve a problem in a video game with the use of a gun.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with you that violent video games do contribute to the aggressiveness in a person, but somehow I just find your statement "There is no respect taught for the life of another and solving problems with a gun is just as easy as solve a problem in a video game with the use of a gun" perplexing. I mean people who go on a rampage, does not shoot people to solve their problems. They only worsen their problem. I don't see how guns represent an easy solution to problems. Like people who go kill other people has some serious mental problem, but how would their shooting solve their problem?
DeleteI think you cannot assume that "The playing of such vicious games intensifies the belligerent violence in a person. This generates psychological disorders and converting a person into someone totally different." My two brothers play more Call of Duty and "shooting" games than anything and they have never came close to having a violent encounter. Why? Because they are in a stabilized home and community. They can distinguish the difference between a real trigger and a button on a controller. Unfortunately, some people exhibiting mental health issues and lack of knowledge on how wrong it is to practice certain behavior drives them to do such things.
DeleteOnce again we are back to gun control. But why? Because this isn't a gun control issue! Neither is it a video game issue Maya (but games are violent i'ts true and i respect your arguement homie). But Gun Control, the main meat of the problem; or atleast what politicians make it seem. Politicians constantly ride this wave of gun control in efforts for popularity saying "Guns are bad!" "Protect our people!" Well thats a bunch of Bologna! (Insert angry emoji) Honestly, as gehm said guns were so much more available back then; so why now are problems rising? Also, stip blaming the "semi-auto rifle .. Banana clip... Assault rifle stuff". There are pistols, ied's, and other weapons that people can get acess to and use to create terror. The caliber may be down but its NOT the issue. Also, guns are sold illegaly? So it wont stop them. It isn't the gun, and i may sound silly, that is saying "oh hey use me to cause mayhem". It is the person! Guns dont kill people , people kill people. Case closed. Im going with b on it is a personal, mentally unstable, issue! If people are screwy in the head; they will find a way. To be honest it takes a complete monster to take a gun and kill another person, let alone a CHILD. Its absolutley disgusting. Something so cruel can only come from some so sick so driven by a corupt atmoshphere that they commit such an act. Society does influence; but it is mainly the person. Many of these incidents are now occuring because of the publicity and the idea that; they did it so i can too. There are truly some sick people in this world. Now Maya, on the video aspect would absutely have to disagree that that is influencing these massacres/incidents. Violent video games like grand theft auto and call of duty; yes i admit; do glorify war, violence, and weapons. However, this isn't new! Gta has been around since 1997 and the first call of duty came out in 2002. Previous to that ; Violent video games always existed! To its not society but possibly a lack of attention to recognize the issue within some people. These people are truly diagusting people and the only way to stop it is to see it before it happens sadly.
ReplyDeleteFinally someone with some sense. People do have to realize that when they blame media they are basically saying that: Hey this movie impacted me so much and it inspired me to go pick up a gun and shoot people. Don't you always get that feeling when you watch a violent movie or play a violent video game? No, you don't. I'm pretty sure movies don't inspire people to go kill. The people who shoot others are messed up in the mind. We could be blaming everything like guns, video games, movies, or we could find a solution.
DeleteI agree with you, Bishoy. We're wasting time trying to blame things for the problem at hand, when really we should be focusing on finding a solution. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before another horrific event such as this shooting occurs, and we need every minute we can get to find a solution.
DeleteI absolutely do not associate violent actions of youth on either gun control or video games. I think the main factor is a lack of EDUCATION. Educating middle and high school students is the most powerful deterrent to gun violence. Many of our youth today do not have the tools to deal with conflict and unfortunately resort to these actions. If the education and governmental systems got more involved in the community on this issue, it could most likely be curbed.
ReplyDeleteFor everyone who related this to gun control, I personally do not believe that gun control needs to be revisited for the millionth time because of new violent outbreaks. I just think that imposing stricter regulations on guns and ammunition is so futile. Not only would it do absolutely nothing to decrease violence, but it is also an infringement on a very important constitutional right. Criminals are going to carry concealed weapons regardless of their legality. Imposing programs and involvement in educations and communities would be the best idea to decrease this issue in our youth and country in general.
I disagree with your first sentence. I believe that video games have a major effect on the violence. If they enjoy playing a violent video game where they are viciously murdering someone, why wouldn’t they want to feel the “rush” in real life. Obviously this person has to be in an unstable state of mind, but the video games portrayed a large effect on their unstableness.
DeleteAlthough I disagree with what you said about a lack of education being the cause of this, I do agree with you when you say that having stricter gun control would be pointless. For many people, when they are told they can no longer do something, it only pushes them to want to do it more. Taking away guns from people would only make them want it more. It would be bound to fail, a lesson we all learned from studying prohibition.
DeleteOkay, so as I was scrolling through these posts, it seems as though people feel that the gun violence issue is caused by either the media OR psychological issues. However, I personally feel hat it is caused by a combination of the two.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the influence of the media combined with psychological issues has led to the rise in gun violence. Sure, People have had psychological issues for centuries, but it wasn't until the last century that violence from the media has been around. These mentally unwell people have been conditioned through violent media to Think that messing around with weapons is okay. 100 years ago, these psychopaths weren't constantly being bombarded with violent stimuli, so they weren't as tempted to do something crazy with a gun.
Also, I did some research, and Bishoy was right about what he said about psychopaths lacking certain mental capacities.