Is upping security in public areas really going to stop a shooter from their intended actions? Video games and media have everything to do with these intended actions. October 21st marks the 17th mass shooting, (Mass shooting is defined as killing more than four people at once), in America in the past nine months. When we think about the numerous mass murders in our country, we immediately think about what could possibly be going through the mind of the murderer. Killing children, parents, best friends, soldiers…these murderers don’t even seem to flinch at the pull of the trigger.
Adam Lanza, the mass murderer killing twenty-seven beautiful faces in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, was a video game addict.
Aaron Alexis, the mass murderer killing twelve sweet souls in the Navy Yard, played an average of sixteen hours of action and/or shooting video games a day.
John Zawahri, the mass murderer of five angels in Santa Monica, had an obsession with video games and weapons used in the games.
A recent shooting, although not a mass-shooting, at a middle school in Nevada, involved a thirteen-year-old boy holding a gun to his teacher and open firing at an additional classmate; both are dead. This occured today so the knowledge of this killer’s relation to video games is unknown but probable due to the statistic of 30% of all video-gamers under the age of 18.
We watch children from the age of 5 to young adults of the age of 25 play Call Of Duty or Halo and it frightens us to see so much joy found in a game of violence and murder. Adding security or metal detectors to schools does not help the real situation. The real situation is what is being absorbed into these young adults or children’s minds, what is being articulated in social networking, and what is being publicized as “cool” in movies or on television. Famous action movies such as Die Hard or James Bond’s movies all involve casually taking out a gun and committing murder. All of the toys in toy stores consist of guns and weapons of all sorts. Water guns, Nerf guns, fake grenades, swords; these toys are for boys and girls to play with.
In the year 2000, a 6-year-old residing in Michigan accidently shot a classmate of his at recess. He found his parent’s gun and was playing with it at recess, he had absolutely no idea what he did. All of these mass murders and school shootings need to be looked at more of just in the sense that some people are mentally sick and get the itch to kill. We need to look more into social aspect of what is being taught to children and young adults to make them feel like it is okay to generate such a disaster.
So as each new mass murder, or shooting in general in the Nevada case, is committed here in America, we pray for the lost souls just as much as we begin to question, “why?”