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President Trump: 'We Have To Do Something' About Violent Video Games, Movies (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In a White House meeting held with lawmakers on the theme of school safety, President Donald Trump offered both a direct and vague call to action against violence in media by calling out video games and movies. "We have to do something about what [kids are] seeing and how they're seeing it," Trump said during the meeting. "And also video games. I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is shaping more and more people's thoughts." Trump followed this statement by referencing "movies [that] come out that are so violent with the killing and everything else." He made a suggestion for keeping children from watching violent films: "Maybe they have to put a rating system for that." The MPAA's ratings board began adding specific disclaimers about sexual, drug, and violent content in all rated films in the year 2000, which can be found in small text in every MPAA rating box.

39 of 866 comments (clear)

  1. Lazy cops and FBI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about appropriately blaming the Police and FBI that ignored multiple blatant opportunities to catch that nutjob. Heck, he used his real name to threaten school shootings online, and one of his relatives called the FBI tip line in January.

    1. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by supremebob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Now, now... I doubt that anyone in Washington actually wants to fix the problem. They just want move it from an anti-gun story (that Republicans hate) to an anti-Hollywood story (that Democrats hate).

    2. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To figure out how blatant the opportunities were, we need to ask how many online threats and how many "my relative is..." tips the FBI gets. (Keep in mind the Orlando shooter had also been reported to the FBI by relatives.) There is a huge difference between "these reports were two in several million, and therefore only valuable in hindsight" and "these reports were among the three dozen that they investigated that year".

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    3. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by scdeimos · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How about appropriately supporting parents and teaching them how to raise their children?

      That would sure beat the currently screwed-up system where both parents have to work, put their kids into day care as soon as they possibly can and expect/rely on staff and teachers to raise their children for them.

      The government should see this as an investment in their future - they want kids to grow up healthy and well-adjusted so that they're not a burden on the health care and correctional systems.

    4. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      But they didn't, because they purposely orchestrate these events for political gain.

      I agree. In fact, the NRA actually funded the rifle training of the shooter.

      https://www.vox.com/2018/2/16/...

      When you think about it, it makes sense. The only group that benefits from mass shootings is the NRA, the gun lobby and gun manufacturers.

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    5. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Now, now... I doubt that anyone in Washington actually wants to fix the problem.

      Every time "the problem" rears its ugly head, Washington does everything it can to expand its own power.

      Doesn't sound like it's a problem for Washington. Kinda the opposite.

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    6. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well yes. Beware the politician's syllogism.

      Something must be done.
      Here is something.
      Therefore we must do it.

      Having said that, this is indeed a start. The willingness to do something is actually better than the refusal to do anything because you probably still live in a democracy and this opens the conversation.

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    7. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by fox171171 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The government should see this as an investment in their future - they want kids to grow up healthy and well-adjusted so that they're not a burden on the health care and correctional systems.

      Except they don't. Private health care and private prisons are big money.

    8. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by Straif · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The NRA gives grants to JROTC programs across the US, as does the US Government. The same JROTC program that trained several of the students touted as heroes during this terrible event.

      Trying to blame the NRA for the fact this screwed up teenager was in the JROTC program for a little while is just like blaming the drivers ed program at the school when a drunk driver kills someone.

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    9. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by Falconnan · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't think you're inherently wrong, but "I keep hearing" is a tired refrain. How about, "There are peer-reviewed, replicated study results"? Violence in media, last I checked, has not shown a strong correlation with violence in society. Gun availability has shown a weak-to-moderate correlation. The FBI not taking obvious tips and especially blatant threats seriously would seem likely to have a strong correlation. As much as I'd like to see reasonable adjustments to gun policy, it's hard to argue the laws need revision when they aren't enforced now.

    10. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by Xylantiel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What are they going to do, take away his guns? But that would require gun regulations... I don't think this is about laziness. Our criminal justice system has become so broken going after non-violent offenders, that actual threats, which should be treated as a crime, just get ignored. This guy should have been charged with making a substantial threat multiple times, and his access to firearms removed as a result. (i.e. not only could he not buy them, he could not possess them.) But that would require a working, effective criminal justice system and some sort of firearm ownership regulations. Neither of which we have in the U.S.

    11. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Informative

      "well-regulated militia" has nothing to do with the government. Most CERTAINLY nothing to do with the Federal government. Perhaps local or at most State government.

    12. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The NRA gives grants to JROTC programs across the US, as does the US Government.

      The NRA trains school shooters. The NRA supports school shootings.

      The same JROTC program that trained several of the students touted as heroes during this terrible event.

      Their heroism had nothing to do with them having weapons.

      I've owned guns since the 1970s. The arguments of the gun fetishists are just not working as well this time around.

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    13. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the cops and the military are not on my side then it's not really going to matter how many guns I have. Red Dawn was a movie.

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    14. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem wit solid scientific results is that they universally say this effect does not exist or that there is an effect to the contrary (people pouring their aggression into a game and being less aggressive as a result), and that does not fit the political narrative (vulgo: "lie") they want to promote. Otherwise it would become very obvious that they are actively and fully knowing do nothing about the problem.

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    15. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by jrumney · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is actually a very strong correlation between gun availability and shootings. Go look it up in some of those peer-reviewed, replicated study results you mention.

    16. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by YukariHirai · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Guns do make people safer, from oppression.

      Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. Enough bullshit to fertilise every farm and every vegetable patch in the world for a year. Guns will help you put up a fight against oppression (and if your organisation is organised enough, you might even win against it), but it won't prevent it, and it won't make you any safer during it. No would-be oppressor ever said "better not, they've got weapons"; they always do everything they can to get more soldiers, more weapons, bigger weapons, better weapons, strike first, divide and conquer.

      And even if somehow guns did actually make people safer from oppression, it still wouldn't be worth the likelihood of some idiot neighbour or stupid high school kid being an irresponsible dickhead and shooting a bunch of innocent people.

      People who don't think that small arms can be used to resist the US military haven't paid any attention to Afghanistan.

      Frankly, that's more damning of the US military than it is a sign of small arms meaning much.

      The police are murdering more people than mass shooters are. Take the guns away from the police, then we can talk about taking them away from ordinary citizens

      Many of the problems with police in America murdering people ultimately come down to the fact that they're expecting to be shot and therefore get a bit more likely to pull the trigger. Police in parts of the world where guns aren't so readily available are nowhere near as trigger happy. This isn't to say police are all saints, because they certainly fucking aren't, but being so ready and eager to shoot at them isn't going to make them less likely to shoot you.

    17. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by amxcoder · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This doesn't solve the problem though. The root problem is not the guns, these are being used as tools, the root problems are these individuals. Taking away the guns from everyone, because of a few bad apples is not only punishing lots of people who don't commit crimes with these guns, but also not actually solving the underlying problem that is causing this. It's a band-aid that makes it look like something is being done, but isn't fixing the problem, and has lots of collateral damage as well, like taking away people's rights that are in the constitution as being "off limits".

    18. Re:Lazy cops and FBI by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Police in parts of the world where guns aren't so readily available are nowhere near as trigger happy.

      I saw a documentary one day where they had an American police officer tail a Swedish police officer for a few days. They discussed how each of them approach various situations in the day to day lives. The American couldn't believe that simply removing the gun from the glovebox in the police car would incur an incredible amount of paperwork, regardless if the gun was used.

      They did at one point have a hostage situation where the perpetrator did have a gun. The Swedish officer went up and talked to the guy for about 10min after which the victim was let go and kept talking to the guy who was at that point at risk of self harming. Post action interview the American said his default would be to take cover somewhere within range of the situation with his gun drawn.

      Was it sensationalised? Probably. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle on these kinds of things, but even the middleground is still a stark contrast to policing in America.

  2. uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are violent movies and video games in other countries and they don't have the same issues with gun violence.

    1. Re:uh by ClickOnThis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are violent movies and video games in other countries and they don't have the same issues with gun violence.

      This. Trump, and others, are once again trying to blame gun violence on everything but guns.

      --
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    2. Re:uh by Somebody+Is+Using+My · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It isn't the money that NRA tosses around that is the major problem. It is - comparatively - only a small part of Republican party funding: in 2014, only 1% of the money raised in 2014 came from the NRA.

      No, the NRA's real power is how quickly - and repeatedly - they can mobilize their supporters. As importantly, NRA supporters don't forget about the issue in a month or two; gun-control is /the/ major issue for them. It trumps issues like abortion, taxes, immigration, and all the other hot-button topics that divide this nation. And they vote.

      The NRA wields a huge club because they can get a huge number of voters behind (or against) a particular candidate depending on his stance on gun-control. Although many other issues result in vocal support (or disagreement), very few groups have a the same ability to guarantee actual votes on the topic. The NRA does. That's why they don't need to push so much money at the candidates (that money, after all, is mostly used for advertising to convince voters to their side; with the NRA, the issue is already decided). So rather than risk alienating them most politicians try to either placate the NRA or avoid the issue entirely.

  3. Oh FFS here we go again.. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Never mind that numerous studies have been done showing that video games and movies don't have any impact on the behavior of normal, well-adjusted people, only people who already have mental illnesses or mental deficiences to start with, oh no! If Trump is going to ignore science on so many other issues then why the ever-loving fuck wouldn't he ignore the science on this issue, too? Anyone want to lay bets that Pence is as much behind this as possible, too?

    1. Re:Oh FFS here we go again.. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Reminds me of gun control and Chicago, New York, DC.

      1) Crime in New York is at a 60-year low, including shootings.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/1...

      2) There are 24 cities in the US with worse rates of murder and gun crime than Chicago

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  4. It's called Parenting by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Maybe they have to put a rating system for that."

    Uh, they have a rating system. Been in place for a long damn time now, not quite show how the hell Trump could have not known this.

    If he's looking for more than that, there's an easy answer. It's called Parenting.

  5. Such a bunch of hypocrites by mrun4982 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Right wing conservatives are so quick to point out when someone even hints at possibly affecting their second amendment rights but have absolutely no problem at all with stripping away 1st amendment rights.

  6. How to stop people killing people. by grahamtriggs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We absolutely must end the ability of people to pretend to kill others, whilst doing nothing to stop people being able to kill each other.

  7. Re:What else are we going to do about gun violence by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If someone has served their sentence for committing a crime, shouldn't they have their rights restored to them after that?

    Because binary "you are being punished" or "you are not being punished" is coarse, stupid and was done away with a while ago. We recognize that serial DUI drivers don't ever deserve the freedom to not have an interlock that technically prevents (or at least inconvenience) drunk driving. We recognize that wife beaters should be forbidden from making contact with their wife after they get out. We recognize a need for a parole system that manages behavior while still allowing for some freedom.

    I'm not saying every crime needs to have an inability to own a gun, but there are definitely some where that right should be forfeit forever.

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  8. Re:What else are we going to do about gun violence by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know how things work in the US but most countries already have a system in place for doing assessments: driving tests, welfare assessments, social services, etc.

    One thing that might be a start is that if you don't have a conviction but you do have lower-level things (e.g. violence on your school record, DVO/ASBO/whatever, maybe even "police were called" one too many times) you are on probation for N years and can't get a firearm, or perhaps can't get a firearm over a certain level of "power" (e.g. centrefire rifle, anything that holds more than two rounds/shells). The probation can be lifted by having an assessment.

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  9. Violent video games SAVE LIVES!!! by Major_Disorder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At least for me, they were an escape from what I endured day in and day out in that festering shithole they called a School. The hell I endured being a computer geek in the 1980's, just so I could go to school and get an education.
    It paid off, I make a good living, and have a great life now. But on many days going home and playing violent video games saved me from doing something I would now regret. (Not that they didn't have it coming, but jail would not have been a happy environment for me.)

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  10. Don't Worry by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He probably just had a meeting with Pence or some other social conservative who wants government censorship of immoral content in games.

    Sooner or later he'll get another meeting with an alt-righter concerned that the alt-right will be vulnerable to censorship and the idea will be forgotten.

    The only policies that Trump follows through on are things that enrich him personally (pass through tax rate) and anti-immigrant measures. Everywhere else he does what the party wants, the best model is an establishment conservative without accountability.

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  11. Something changed, it wasn't the guns by drnb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Never mind that numerous studies have been done showing that video games and movies don't have any impact on the behavior of normal, well-adjusted people, only people who already have mental illnesses or mental deficiences to start with, oh no!

    The same can be said for guns. Mental illness seems to be a recurring theme in these mass shootings, well the ones that are not terrorism related.

    If Trump is going to ignore science on so many other issues then why the ever-loving fuck wouldn't he ignore the science on this issue, too?

    Ignoring science in this debate is common on both sides. For example the AR-15 being no more lethal than other semiautomatic rifles that are not part of anyone's "assault weapon" list. Put a low capacity hunting magazine into an AR-15 and how is it different from the semiautomatic hunting rifles? Both sides are picking the respective scapegoats.

    The real problem is likely in US social policy. We've had magazine fed semiautomatics for nearly a century. The civilian AR-15 for 50 years or so. Something changed, it wasn't the guns.

  12. Re:What else are we going to do about gun violence by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If someone has served their sentence for committing a crime, shouldn't they have their rights restored to them after that?

    How about their voting rights? In Florida, there are 1.5 million people who are denied voting rights because they were convicted of felonies, even after they've served their sentences.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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  13. Re:Are you guys sheltered or what? apk by fluffernutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It will make it a hell of a lot harder for criminals to get guns. Over time, criminals will have less and less guns.

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  14. The 90's want their scapegoat back. by atomicalgebra · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seriously video games and movies have been shown to decrease violent tendencies in young men because they are an outlet for youthful aggression.

  15. Re:Are you guys sheltered or what? apk by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All I can say is, it worked in Austrailia.

    --
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  16. No, Broken Society. by thesupraman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about appropriately blaming a society where:
    a) There are guns everywhere.
    b) There is very little social responsibility (its always someone ELSES fault).
    c) Being the Alpha is what matters, be it through money, force, or fame.
    d) Not 'fitting in' is punished by being socially ostracised, and told there is something wrong with you.
    e) A Police force that will thunder through the door guns blazing in response to a phone call.
    f) Living in a constant media and social deluge reinforcing all of the above.

    Disenfrancise enough people and this is the outcome. Congratulations America, I guess this is 'The Dream'.

    But dont worry, just arm more people, because escalation works.

    (btw, no, video games wont work - many countries, especially Asian boys, LOVE violent video games, and have very very very very low rates of these crimes)

  17. Re:Repeal the 2nd amendment by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Guns are not the problem, culture is the problem. Every western nation defines health care as a right and gun ownership as a privilege, except the US who have it backwards. This is why the US is at then top of the list for gun violence and the bottom of the list for health care affordability and outcomes.

    --
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  18. Not anymore they don't by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Informative
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