Earlier in August the United States of America saw two mass shootings taking place in less than 24 hours.
Two lone gunmen took the lives of at least 31 innocent people and many more suffered severe injuries.
The shootings took place in El Paso, Texas (22 killed), and Dayton, Ohio (nine killed).
Mass shootings have become so common that we are hardly surprised when we see the headlines on the news.
In the aftermath, many questions and suggestions arise, but very little gets done and eventually the event is forgotten by the public.
The challenge often lies in finding the motive for these shootings, and while evidence of untreated mental illness, history of abuse and online radicalisation are prevalent, blaming violent video games has no justification whatsoever.
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Many political figures, including US president Donald Trump, came forward and blamed video games.
The 45th president says “gruesome and grizzly video games that are now commonplace” are partly to blame for the shootings.
Former US senator Joe Lieberman says, “This game encourages players to shoot this gun”, referring to Grand Theft Auto.
This is a very old argument that can be traced back to the 1980s when parents blamed the board game Dungeons and Dragons for steering vulnerable teenagers towards dipping their toes in Satanism, violent rituals and substance abuse.
Many have also pointed fingers at heavy metal music over the years.
In the 1950s, parents blamed comic books for the erratic behaviour in children.
I believe this blame game just serves to distract from the real issues and hinders the process of finding the real causes.
Over the last couple of decades many extensive studies have been conducted on the possible connection between violent video games and increased aggression in children and all came to the same conclusion: there is no connection.
In fact, many found that they had the opposite effect. They found that violent video games provided a platform for a release of aggression and frustration in young men, according to Christopher Ferguson, professor of psychology at Stetson University, who has spent more than 20 years studying this fallacy.
Ferguson says, “It’s bad enough that these statements misrepresent the actual scholarly research and misinform the public.
“But it’s worse when those falsehoods give advocacy groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) cover to shift blame for violence onto non-issues like video games”.
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The professor adds, “The resulting misunderstanding hinders efforts to address mental illness and other issues, such as the need for gun control that is actually related to gun violence.”
Even looking at sales worldwide debunks this theory.
The highest number of video games sales is in Japan, where gun violence ranks among the lowest in the world.
In fact, gun violence there is the lowest it has been in years.
Video games are enjoyed by millions of people around the world, yet mass shootings that are this frequent are almost a uniquely American phenomenon.
When police investigate the personal lives of the shooters, they often find that they played violent video games and call it “worrying” or a “possible motive”.
My question is, why don’t they consider violent films?
Many films shown on Netflix and other streaming services today glorify violence just as much as video games do. These are even more accessible and popular than video games, yet no one has tried to shift the blame onto them.
Another baffling trend is the apparent shock of the parents when they hear that their children have been playing these games when the age restriction is written boldly in red on the cover of the game.
So, if parents believe that these claims are true, they should monitor what type of media their children are consuming on a daily basis and what type of games they are buying for them.
Stop shifting the blame as well as hiding behind unjustifiable claims and focus on larger issues, such as mental health, abuse and online radicalisation.
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