In the Wake of a Recent School Shooting, a U.S. Governor Points to Video Games as the Cause
Earlier this week there was a mass shooting at a high school in Florida. The death toll was at least 17 people and the accused shooter, Nikolas Cruz, aged 19, has recently confessed to the shooting. While many are horrified at this latest mass shooting, some are wondering what caused this, some have put the blame on violent video games and most are wondering if this tragedy could’ve been prevented.
On Thursday, Matt Bevin, the Governor of Kentucky, lay the blame on violent video games in a radio interview (he begins at the 29-minute mark). “There are video games that, yes, are listed for mature audiences, but kids play them and everybody knows it, and there’s nothing to prevent the child from playing them,” Bevin said. Bevin described violent video games as things that “celebrate slaughtering of people.”
“There are games that literally replicate and give people the ability to score points for doing the same thing that these students are doing inside of schools, where you get extra points for finishing someone who’s lying there begging for their life,” he argued. Bevin also argued that there was a “cultural problem” in America that was causing these mass shootings to occur.
Though games have frequently been blamed for causing real-life violence in the past, studies have debunked the theory that playing violent video games can cause people to commit violent crimes in the real world.
What do you think? Do violent games such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty cause people to act out violently or are such video games just harmless entertainment? Let us know in the comments below!