One Million Time Bombs

I'm taking a break from the usual stuff I do here on The Non-Gamer's Gamer's Blog today to reply to something Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander said today. You probably know what's coming because it's been all over the news.

"I think video games is (sic) a bigger problem than guns. Because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games and the Second Amendment limits what we can do about guns." He said these words in a discussion, on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown," laying the blame of recent school shootings on guns and video games, but noting that video games were a bigger societal threat than guns.



My reply is simple. You, Senator Alexander, are ignorant and misinformed, and should learn to think before speaking. If you are right however, we have a huge problem in this country, and the entire world.

The video game industry is gigantic. Certainly not as big as the gun lobby or the tobacco lobby, but still very big. Their profits range into the billions yearly. Do you know what that means? Somebody is buying a lot of video games. Millions, tens of millions, buy and play video games every single day, for hours and hours at a time. Many of them could be considered obsessed with their chosen hobby. I'm not judging, I'm just saying.

If video games truly do affect people, and cause them to go on shooting rampages at schools, we as I said, have a huge problem. If even a fraction of these people as affected as the Senator says, there are at least a million time bombs out there. Ready to blow at any minute.

But that's not true. After all, what were the violent video games that Hitler played? Or Caligula? Was Al Capone a big Call of Duty player? It's not true at all.

The NRA used to have a slogan they were proud of - "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." it's partially true. Guns help, but it is people who kill people. And let's face it, if you give a psychopath a butter knife, somebody might die. Do we outlaw butter knives? No. But there are better ways.

I grew up around guns, hunting specifically. I had to take a course before I could use a gun. In my father's home the guns and ammo were stored separately, and locked away. And I grew up as not a gun guy, but I'm educated, and have ideas how we could make this better.

First, get over yourselves, you don't need automatic weapons to hunt. And guns should not be available at gun shows or Wal-Mart. If you want to collect guns, you're not allowed to own ammo. You're just a collector, remember? If you want to own a gun, take a three week gun safety course, that's what I had to do. Also I would take a hint from Chris Rock, and tax ammunition. A lot. If one bullet cost $100, you will think before you shoot. Have the money go to victims of shootings.

And Senator Alexander, get off of video games, they are not to blame. And please start thinking before you open your mouth, because if you're right... I would guess you're surrounded by Halo players, who are also potential time bombs...