5 ms·

I have guns in my home. My wife hates guns and she has a home defense weapon. That's my intro because I don't want to be mistaken for anti-gun. I like guns and

I have guns in my home. My wife hates guns and she has a home defense weapon. That's my intro because I don't want to be mistaken for anti-gun. I like guns and I like shooting. How would you accomplish this without a firearm? Do you think you could accomplish this with a bat or a knife? The attack happened at a Walmart. They sell hard objects. This couldn't have gotten far. I can't imagine a location or situation where you could be so effective in harming so many without a weapon that gives you so much distance from your victim. Do you have kids? I have one. Every day I look at my toddler and have to think about how to keep her safe (statistics are in my favor but they were in every parents' favor). Then I have to look at my wife and assure her that our baby will be able to live a long life. I'll relinquish my second amendment rights, if I never again ahave to live through a year where there are more mass shootings than days. For now, we're just moving out of Texas.

kls 7y ago
The three most deadly mass killing in the US where not done by guns, two where by bombs and the other one was done by jets. One was done with diesel fuel and fertilizer and it leveled half of a 10 story building. 4 to 10 bags of fertilizer would have done some serious damage to that Walmart, as well as most likely killed and maimed a lot more people. That amount would not put him on any radar (we do monitor ammonium nitrate purchases in bulk after Oklahoma City) Personally I think there is a link in A-moral violent video games as well as violent music that glorifies killing. Now in saying that please don't construe it with me being an advocate for censorship. I am not, but I think there is a link. Further if you couple that with young males who have little prospects in this brave new world, fresh out of school or getting ready to graduate, no real direction and probably a hand full of romantic rejections due to being awkward you have a powder keg waiting to happen. Funny enough in the case of the Texas shooter, after reading his manifesto, I was surprised he did not use explosives. His reasoning where more like Timothy Mcveigh's than many of the other shooters. He does not fit the typical profile.
- tdewitt 7y ago
  The science on the matter disagrees with your personal opinion's about the impact of video games. There have been more than a handful of studies around this. I don't couple that with young males having little prospects because they still have more than their counterparts. Why aren't young black women shooting up Walmarts? Why not Mexican men? I'm a white male. I didn't graduate from a college. I was awkward. I haven't killed anyone and I know a lot of others that fit that mold. You're ignoring the poison being put into their heads by people using your exact talking points. That creates the powder keg. Bombs don't get you the praise from the gutter. The alt-right incels like the glory. You're right, we could see a rise in bombings but we also might not. What we'll definitely see (and already do) is nothing changing by doing nothing.
  - kls 7y ago
    and most of them have led to the conclusion of increased aggression, so it's not really a personal opinion (as I tend to hold opinions fairly loosely): https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson As well just because someone fit's a profile does not mean they are predisposed to commit acts of violence. That being said, when there is a pattern, there is a pattern. There are many young white males, of similar experience who do not pick up a gun and start killing people. That being said, there is a definitive pattern of behavior and interest among these white males that do, rejection, isolation and immersion in video games (almost always violent) are certainly some of those patterns. Also please stop trying to pin it on alt-right (or left for that matter), these guys are popping up all over the political spectrum.
    - tjr225 7y ago
      > That being said, when there is a pattern, there is a pattern. There is a pattern of mentally unhinged men being radicalized by the right wing and committing heinous acts of violence with guns.
      - kls 7y ago
        The Ohio shooter described himself as a left wing Satanist. Most of the school shooters had little to no political ideology. A few have been hard left leaning and some have been alt-right. It is disingenuous to state that they are motivated by political ideology as the overwhelming majority have has little to no interest in politics given their age. I don't dispute that some of the mass killings have been done out of ultra-radicalized political ideologies but the majority are not committed for that reason.
- tjr225 7y ago
  Ugh. This is nonsense. Do you think Timothy McVeigh was inspired by Doom?
  - sdenton4 7y ago
    Violent video games seems to be the talking point du jour coming out of the gun rights/white supremacist media machine... Was weirdly all over fox news yesterday. Is it a genuine concern, or just a trial balloon, looking for the best way to derail the conversation this time around? You be the judge!
    - kls 7y ago
      While I don't doubt the right is using it as a talking point, ignoring one link because one likes it (games) while demonizing another link (guns) is not the answer to actually solving the issue and is a form of filter bubbling.
      - tdewitt 7y ago
        So then let's go back to stuffing our heads in the sand and doing nothing instead. Show a link between games and hate crime fueled mass shooting by sad white boys and we can put it on the list of things to worry about. Until then, perhaps making it harder to get guns could help...
    - CapricornNoble 7y ago
      >>>gun rights/white supremacist media machine Why do you link these two things, as if no minority is pro-gun rights and active in the media? https://www.youtube.com/user/MrColionNoir https://www.youtube.com/user/MrColionNoir
- pnongrata 7y ago
  People play and have been playing violent videogames all over the world for many years. Much like mass shootings, violence in videogames might be symptoms of rots within our capitalist society. Very powerful people are profiting off our rots.
- umvi 7y ago
  I think there is a link, but the causation arrow is opposite what you think it is. Violent video games don't create violent people necessarily, but video people like to play violent video games.
  - kls 7y ago
    I don't disagree, that is why I choose the term link as opposed to causation, it could very well be that they are choosing to immerse themselves in violent content because they have a predisposed desire for it. It is also why I am anti-censorship, as I believe it is the opposite side of the same coin as blaming the gun for mass murders. Just as guns are linked to these issues as the tool of choice, we find back linking to excessive immersion in violent media. I just find is strange the cognitive dissonance people make when wanting to ban the one but not the other when they are both clearly linked. They want law abiding people to give up their guns but find all kinds of reasons to deny the link with violent content.
  - 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
    Multiple shooters have mentioned "high score" in their manifestos or messages left before the attacks.

kls 7y ago

The three most deadly mass killing in the US where not done by guns, two where by bombs and the other one was done by jets. One was done with diesel fuel and fertilizer and it leveled half of a 10 story building. 4 to 10 bags of fertilizer would have done some serious damage to that Walmart, as well as most likely killed and maimed a lot more people. That amount would not put him on any radar (we do monitor ammonium nitrate purchases in bulk after Oklahoma City) Personally I think there is a link in A-moral violent video games as well as violent music that glorifies killing. Now in saying that please don't construe it with me being an advocate for censorship. I am not, but I think there is a link. Further if you couple that with young males who have little prospects in this brave new world, fresh out of school or getting ready to graduate, no real direction and probably a hand full of romantic rejections due to being awkward you have a powder keg waiting to happen. Funny enough in the case of the Texas shooter, after reading his manifesto, I was surprised he did not use explosives. His reasoning where more like Timothy Mcveigh's than many of the other shooters. He does not fit the typical profile.

tdewitt 7y ago
The science on the matter disagrees with your personal opinion's about the impact of video games. There have been more than a handful of studies around this. I don't couple that with young males having little prospects because they still have more than their counterparts. Why aren't young black women shooting up Walmarts? Why not Mexican men? I'm a white male. I didn't graduate from a college. I was awkward. I haven't killed anyone and I know a lot of others that fit that mold. You're ignoring the poison being put into their heads by people using your exact talking points. That creates the powder keg. Bombs don't get you the praise from the gutter. The alt-right incels like the glory. You're right, we could see a rise in bombings but we also might not. What we'll definitely see (and already do) is nothing changing by doing nothing.
- kls 7y ago
  and most of them have led to the conclusion of increased aggression, so it's not really a personal opinion (as I tend to hold opinions fairly loosely): https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson As well just because someone fit's a profile does not mean they are predisposed to commit acts of violence. That being said, when there is a pattern, there is a pattern. There are many young white males, of similar experience who do not pick up a gun and start killing people. That being said, there is a definitive pattern of behavior and interest among these white males that do, rejection, isolation and immersion in video games (almost always violent) are certainly some of those patterns. Also please stop trying to pin it on alt-right (or left for that matter), these guys are popping up all over the political spectrum.
  - tjr225 7y ago
    > That being said, when there is a pattern, there is a pattern. There is a pattern of mentally unhinged men being radicalized by the right wing and committing heinous acts of violence with guns.
    - kls 7y ago
      The Ohio shooter described himself as a left wing Satanist. Most of the school shooters had little to no political ideology. A few have been hard left leaning and some have been alt-right. It is disingenuous to state that they are motivated by political ideology as the overwhelming majority have has little to no interest in politics given their age. I don't dispute that some of the mass killings have been done out of ultra-radicalized political ideologies but the majority are not committed for that reason.
tjr225 7y ago
Ugh. This is nonsense. Do you think Timothy McVeigh was inspired by Doom?
- sdenton4 7y ago
  Violent video games seems to be the talking point du jour coming out of the gun rights/white supremacist media machine... Was weirdly all over fox news yesterday. Is it a genuine concern, or just a trial balloon, looking for the best way to derail the conversation this time around? You be the judge!
  - kls 7y ago
    While I don't doubt the right is using it as a talking point, ignoring one link because one likes it (games) while demonizing another link (guns) is not the answer to actually solving the issue and is a form of filter bubbling.
    - tdewitt 7y ago
      So then let's go back to stuffing our heads in the sand and doing nothing instead. Show a link between games and hate crime fueled mass shooting by sad white boys and we can put it on the list of things to worry about. Until then, perhaps making it harder to get guns could help...
  - CapricornNoble 7y ago
    >>>gun rights/white supremacist media machine Why do you link these two things, as if no minority is pro-gun rights and active in the media? https://www.youtube.com/user/MrColionNoir https://www.youtube.com/user/MrColionNoir
pnongrata 7y ago
People play and have been playing violent videogames all over the world for many years. Much like mass shootings, violence in videogames might be symptoms of rots within our capitalist society. Very powerful people are profiting off our rots.
umvi 7y ago
I think there is a link, but the causation arrow is opposite what you think it is. Violent video games don't create violent people necessarily, but video people like to play violent video games.
- kls 7y ago
  I don't disagree, that is why I choose the term link as opposed to causation, it could very well be that they are choosing to immerse themselves in violent content because they have a predisposed desire for it. It is also why I am anti-censorship, as I believe it is the opposite side of the same coin as blaming the gun for mass murders. Just as guns are linked to these issues as the tool of choice, we find back linking to excessive immersion in violent media. I just find is strange the cognitive dissonance people make when wanting to ban the one but not the other when they are both clearly linked. They want law abiding people to give up their guns but find all kinds of reasons to deny the link with violent content.
- 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
  Multiple shooters have mentioned "high score" in their manifestos or messages left before the attacks.