GTA Blamed for Columbine-style Massacre Planning

bippy writes "A Miami attorney claims that a teen accused of plotting a massacre used GTA to prepare for the attack, RedAssedBaboon reports. Attorney Jack Thompson is the same guy who is trying to link the murder of Stefan Pakeerah last year to Manhunt. Pakeerah was beaten to death with a claw hammer by a friend who, Thompson claims, was inspired by Manhunt. The uproar surrounding the case led to the game being pulled from many British store shelves and Prime Minister Tony Blair looking into a link between violence and video games. It looks like Thompson has found himself a niche." Update: 10/10 19:25 GMT by T : Peter Endean writes "It might be worth noting that in fact in the case of the murder linked to Manhunt, it was the victim who owned the game."

Comments

What's so special about police?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's so special about cops and why only in videogames?

Eric Clapton sang about "I shot the sheriff".

Cops are killed in movies and television shows all the time and have been for some six or seven decades at the very least.

Cops are killed in books all the time.

All sorts of people are killed in all sorts of movies, music, books, television shows, plays and even VIDEO GAMES.

** Why is it okay to kill cops in any media EXCEPT videogames/interactive media?
** Why is it okay to kill everyone else BUT cops in interactive media?

It's not like police are some high and mighty upper class that rises above the rest of the world in importance simply becuase of the authority they wieild over citizens.

Re:What's so special about police?

[Zangief]

Don't forget that books, music, movies, and television shows were already blamed fot violence and decadence of the society. Idiots already failed at proving any relation, so they moved to the next target.

The bottom line is, that people are responsible for their own actions. Any attempt to blame something else for your own actions, is just some cheap lawyer trick.

some truths

[TheAxeMaster]

Ok the kid's claim is bullshit anyway, and we all know that. He's trying to pawn off responsibility, and the claim probably came from his parents or some shit anyway.

Fact 1: The game has an MA rating, so any kid under 17 or 18 is not able to buy it (ideally). So how could he even get such a game? Well in all probability his parent's bought it for him, so even if this was some derranged world where his claim was true, it's the fault and responsibility of the parents for knowing what this kid is playing and making sure he isn't playing things he's not supposed to.

Fact 2: The average age of a video game player is 28. You cannot tell a 28 year old what they can or can't play, so they can't get rid of these games. It's not our fault that stores and parents don't enforce the rating system, it's their responsibility.

Re:Such bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually they don't show it, just the garage door closing then you coming out in a police uniform. Maybe they just tied up the cops and locked them in the garage?

misdirection of blame

[forkboy]

This kind of shit has been happening ever since kids starting playing games that involve some degree of violence. Remember the big Dungeons and Dragons scare in the early 80s? People were blaming their fucked up kids' violence on that rather than their own horrible parenting / child's mental illness.

No one wants to admit that the problem might lie with someone they can't sue.