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Kids Kill, Victim Sues Game Maker
qbproger writes "Sadly, two kids decided to go outside and start shooting cars. They were mimicing a video game they had been playing, Grand Theft Auto. I think it's about time parents started paying attention to the rating on video games." The family of one of the victims has decided to file suit against Take Two Interactive, presumably deciding that blame should be assigned to whoever has the deepest pockets instead of to those who actually did something wrong.
From Carter, C. J., "U.S. Leads Richest Nations In Gun Deaths", Associated Press, Friday, April 17, 1998:
(selected figures for) gun-related deaths per 100,000 people in 1994:
United States 14.24;
Northern Ireland 6.63;
Canada 4.31;
Israel 2.91;
Australia 2.65;
England and Wales 0.41;
Japan 0.05
"You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
How many of these cases have to be thrown out before people figure out they're not going to win?
These kids already won. They fired a gun at passing cars 25 times, killing one person, wounding another, and got off with a slap on the wrist. They should have been charged as adults for murder, and several counts of attempted murder, and done major hard time. Instead, the judge sent them to a juvenile prison that they will get out of in a couple of years. The judge even considered letting them off on probation!!!
> Well, it surely wasn't legal, however they got them. More laws aren't the answer, enforcement is.
Yeah, but "more laws" is a convenient "solution" for politicians to peddle to the public.
Look at the TIA crap offered as the "solution" to the 9/11 problem. The reason we didn't preempt 9/11 (ignoring any conspiracy theories) is that our police and intelligence agencies already gather so much information that they have to pick and choose what gets forwarded toward the center for putting bigger pictures together, and unfortunately some really important material didn't make the cut. IMO the DoHS/TIA "solution" is more likely to aggravate the problem than to solve it, but since the problem is genuinely hard it's much easier and more profitable for politicians to peddle a big expensive snake-oil "solution" that will convince us rubes that they're really going to take care of us.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I live in a state that has very high gun ownership rates, and also the lowest rate of gun related crime /deaths... why? hunting is common, and kids are often taken with at an early age. we grow up with guns, so we know how to handle them safely. nearly everyone has taken a hunter safety course.
owning guns != death by guns
I have observed this enough times to dub it Sarah Brady Syndrome:
- Something horrible happens to someone close to you.
- You decide that Something Must Be Done <tm> to prevent anyone else from suffering the same fate.
- After considering, and rejecting, the idea of using the existing laws that punish the person who actually caused the problem (especially if that person is the putative 'victim' himself, as in the case of cigarette smoking or McDonald's food), you settle on:
- Suing someone other than the perpetrator, under the theory that they aided and abetted the perpetrator by manufacturing one of the tools used, or wrote a book/movie/TV program/video game that 'inspired' the criminal act
- Lobbying your legislators for new criminal remedies against these enablers.
- Both.
I am heartened by the fact that the latest lawsuit against McDonald's (apparently for forcing kids to eat so much of their food as to have fat asses) was rejected with prejudice by the judge, but recent history is filled with too many examples that go the other way.We not only have the Brady Bill, but countless other laws named for a victim, and almost without exception, they're bad laws - unnecessary and counterproductive, because they punish people other than the actual perpetrators, which teaches the next round of dumb kids that it isn't their fault when they shoot up their high school, killing scores of people and giving Michael Moore a chance to make another preachy movie (and Katz an excuse to compile a book).
I expect someone to go paint a tunnel on the side of a concrete wall, run their car into it at 60 mph and their family sue Warner Brothers for making Road Runner cartoons give them the idea.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
Excuse me, but this nation (the US) was founded on freedom to CHOOSE ANY RELIGION. Why do all of these self rightous people always assume that that means that this nation was founded for and about the people who pray to the same invisible man that they do.
I am not trying to deny you your right to pray (or not) to whomever you choose. I am trying to deny the state the right to make that choice for you. It's a simple as that.
I hate having to say this, but before you go start posting on emotion:
RTFA!!!!!!
The kids aren't trying to use this as a defense. The family of the victom is trying to sue Take Two. I feel bad for the victoms and their families. If I were to guess their intentions they simply want some compensation because they know they'll never get anything from that damn red-neck family that was the _real_ cause.
On another note: What the F*** is this about they'll have to be realeased at 19 under Tennessee law!?! That means that one of these idiots will be out in 3 years!!! Could someone _PLEASE_ find some federal charge so they can be put away longer.
Please Darwin! Do your magic once again!
-B
My mom used to not let me play with toy guns. I now have a large collection of real guns including some of the dreaded "assault" rifles. My next purchase will be a Model 97 shotgun.
I shoot targets, not animals because deer aren't doing anything that bothers me. Although if I lived in an area where deer are a menace I might develop a taste for venison.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
Education in the U.S. is declining (over-populated class rooms, more drop-outs, little funding for more books, etc.). When I was in high-school, my focus was getting good grades, because my parents gave me benefits (money, less chores). I played shooter games from as far back as I can remember. I even played them with my father. It's a great way to release anger and stress in a non-harmful way. I've never had the urge to go shoot someone if they pissed me off. Why? Because I was educated to know better than that. Education is declining now, and with increasing violance and pressure in today's schools, kids just do not know better. They were not taught how to handle reality well. School isn't as important to more and more students these days.
Think about Japan. They are way more into video games than the U.S. They are very focused on getting an education and doing well in school, which causes a lot of stress. However, you don't see many statistics on students shooting things and blaming it on video games. They know better.. their society (schools, parents, peers) educate them.
U.S. society is becoming less civilized and more demoralized. If a student drops out of school, so what? They can still get a high-paying job and earn respect. Less education leads to more ignorance, which in turn breeds violence, hate, and all those unpleasant emotions. What is stopping them from killing people IRL instead of in an isolated-reality video game? Education.
Maybe kids who are half-ways normal wouldn't. But if I were to market a product that I knew turned just 1% of kids into crazed psychopathic killers, shouldn't I be held in the least bit responsible?
Quake has sold millions of copies. Somehow, I must have missed the news stories about the 10,000's of teenagers who went around trying to gib people with shotguns after playing it. Moron.
To put it another way, the manufacturers of metal spoons should not be sued because some idiot in Montana decides to scoop out his wife's eyes with them.