# Games are to blame for mass shooters, not social welfare or gun regulation. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 27, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335 "2018-08-27T04:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/21 "2018-08-27T21:49:16Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Actually, the problem is with the [headphones](https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/08/27/nratv-host-criticizes-survivor-madden-tournament-shooting-supposedly-not-hearing-gunshots-over-his/221110)… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I think it might be the computer mouse, not games. The finger used to click the mouse button is also used to pull a trigger - coincidence, I think not… ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/22 "2018-08-27T22:19:02Z")
Ban laser sights. That video was terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/23 "2018-08-27T23:21:30Z")
I think we should all go back to playing Techmo Bowl. No one ever got killed over Techmo Bowl. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/24 "2018-08-27T23:28:34Z")
Pardon my cynicism, but after GamerGate, nothing surprises me. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/25 "2018-08-27T23:46:23Z")
So we have a guy getting angry, over a game. He gets hold of a gun and kills people he’s angry in the general direction of. Clearly the correct approach here is to ban everything and anything that people can get angry over. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/26 "2018-08-28T01:03:45Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Excellent! Let me clarify my last post - **Barack Obama** is trolling. Congratulations. You realized he means the opposite of what he said. Too bad you seem to have forgotten the difference between trolling and sarcasm. I’ll be sure to “forget” the next time your post drips with sarcasm, too. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/27 "2018-08-28T01:34:01Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Wait, hold on - in this instance, the kid was mad because of losing at the tournament and other people’s behavior and so he shot them up. In this instance, the gaming is no more to blame than cards if a poker player lost at a casino and returned to the poker table with a gun and shot his opponents. > Not that there can’t be a link between video games and violence but this seems a poor example of it. According to many old westerns, isn’t that how poker is supposed to be played? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/28 "2018-08-28T01:47:34Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > According to many old westerns, isn’t that how poker is supposed to be played? Now I gruesomely foresee that some will seek to find what was the equivalent to the “dead man’s hand”, as in what play was the one being made in Madden Football at the time of the incident. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/29 "2018-08-28T02:19:43Z")
_Starsky and Hutch_ was probably the pandora’s box that got all this shooter stuff going anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/30 "2018-08-28T02:56:25Z")
Also, title is a bit clickbaity Title: Games are to blame for mass shooters, not social welfare or gun regulation Body: …is what crazy people are bound to say ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/31 "2018-08-28T03:00:14Z")
TV violence back in the '70s was a serious problem, also correlated with mass shootings back then. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/32 "2018-08-28T03:20:52Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > So we have a guy getting angry, over a game. > > He gets hold of a gun and kills people he’s angry in the general direction of. > > Clearly the correct approach here is to ban everything and anything that people can get angry over. If we start the ban with guns first, I’m on board. And they definitely make me angry. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/33 "2018-08-28T03:31:19Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#): > > TV violence back in the '70s was a serious problem, also correlated with mass shootings back then. Was it? And, was it? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/34 "2018-08-28T06:34:49Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > So we have a guy getting angry, over a game. > > He gets hold of a gun and kills people he’s angry in the general direction of. > > Clearly the correct approach here is to ban everything and anything that people can get angry over. Excellent idea! Now Trump really posses me off, so let’s start there. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/35 "2018-08-28T06:38:09Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Football is obviously to blame. Madden should be hanged! (Wait, is he even still alive?) He is, and doesn’t have that much to do with the game except give his blessing and collect his royalties. When I was commuting he had a spot on the Bay Area news station every morning. But football is not to blame - only a football game. Real football with real concussions is innocent. Play football where your thumb may get sore is guilty. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/36 "2018-08-28T11:49:40Z")
If this was anything other than a Madden Football tournament then the OP might not be totally stupid. You think right wingers are going to complain about football violence? And then what? Blame the sugar in apple pies for making kids go crazy? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/37 "2018-08-28T13:22:41Z")
I’m just mad because the title made this one look like low hanging fruit for a pile-on. Now I’m kinda pissed off. Not super bad, but my irritation is certainly noteworthy. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/38 "2018-11-06T05:08:39Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > It’s been “too soon” since Columbine. An entire generation has grown up under the cloud of mass and school shootings, but it’s “too soon” to do anything about it. It will always be “too soon”. And the NRA will keep funneling money to their pet politicians to ensure they keep saying that. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/39 "2018-11-06T06:50:15Z")
Since the last batch of posts, it seems Jews and people who Trump doesn’t like make people mad. Remember folks, if you outlaw pipe bombs only outlaws will have pipe bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335/40 "2018-11-06T06:58:09Z")
Didja hear about the kid who bludgeoned his parents to death with a baseball bat? Where do you think he got that idea? From the violence in baseball games, of course! Kids shouldn’t be allowed to play baseball, or they’ll all become killers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-are-to-blame-for-mass-shooters-not-social-welfare-or-gun-regulation/820335.md?page=3)