If they’d given him access to a firearm? Yes.
But since that will never happen in the good ole USA, the next best solution is holding people responsible when their behavior or negligence allows others to be harmed. Which is exactly what’s happening here.
Yeah that sounds like an excuse. “Oh no, that is not necessarily violent ideation, it can be just coming up with some sick shooter-gaming scenarios”… like someone else said, if that is so, get him a rig or put him in a class. Yes, that can be the case but that is where we need to enable those responsible to look closer and discern which is which.
Won’t get an argument from me for a hard ban on a minor having a gun in their actual or constructive possesion unless under direct adult supervision at the range or the hunting grounds or their own private homestead, hard punishment for those allowing it otherwise (except in an emergency).
I for one would restore to school officials, and health care providers, the ability to inquire about accesibility of firearms to the child. At the very least get it in the record the answer (from the adults) was “none of your gdmf business”.
What I mostly see here is evil parents. Not just negligent, but evil. They couldn’t be bothered to take their son home when he was in obvious distress. They couldn’t be bothered to support him after the fact; they fled and didn’t even show up for the arraignment. They hired themselves a fancy lawyer and left their kid up to the public defense. This is not just ignorance, not just stupidity, not just negligence. It’s a malignant, all-pervasive way of not caring. The emphasis should be on that IMHO, and it looks like it will be, given the fact that they are arrested. The kid sounds severely troubled, probably depressed, maybe psychotic.
Just my two cents, feel free to criticize.
MSNBC Sunday morning
No, I was just reporting.
However, since you ask, yes I believe this kid was way down a video game rabbit hole.
You don’t suppose that the kid was just lying and made up a story on the spot? Because from what I’ve read, it seemed pretty transparently an on-the-spot lie. I also haven’t seen anyone else making a big deal about this, though, granted, I haven’t watched MSNBC Sunday morning news…
If it was a news report at all, and not just somebody being quoted making the claim.
That’s possible. But, the video game story makes sense. If the kid was saturated with video violence he might reasonably aspire to a video violence career. I was really into model airplanes before I joined the USAF. What’s the difference, psychologically speaking?
Well, being interested in a career making video games is not correlated with murderous actions, as far as I’m aware anyway. It in no way explains why he decided to kill a bunch of people, whether its true or not.
It makes more sense that the kid had psychological problems and that this was the cause, enabled by parents who gave him a gun. Video game violence is, frankly, a stretch as a root cause. And the only evidence I’ve seen about even a nebulous connection was the kid basically saying ‘this drawing about shooting people was…from a video game I was thinking about. Yeah! I want to be a game designer and stuff!’ (obviously, this is a paraphrase 
). I haven’t seen any evidence except your claim that he was even a huge gaming person, let alone a first-person shooter fanatic…let alone that there is any actual connection between video game violence and real-world violence. I have seen evidence that this kid had real psychological issues however, so I’m going to go with that as my own default until someone brings some additional evidence.
Well, gee…I’m stumped for sure. 
Can’t see any real difference between model airplanes leading someone to the Air Force and a nebulous video game obsession that hasn’t been demonstrated leading a kid to violence…
If the note thing is valid, his interest was in the graphical violence. I don’t believe he was a serious student of Python.
Only if you are looking to point elsewhere, anywhere, but at the gun.
The gun was real. This baseless video game obsession supposition-a diversion.
OK - haven’t seen much more on the video game thing in the news. So, will drop it unless it begins to develop. It’s off topic anyway
This is an extremely tenuous connection. Many kids are “interested” in making video games even at much younger ages because they are what they enjoy. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was 6, but I didn’t have the slightest knowledge or interest in actual medicine. I just loved our cat.
There is no connection between enjoying video game violence and committing actual murder that I’m aware of. If there is a citation to show this connection then I’d be glad to take a look.
Swimming pools more dangerous than guns… video game violence to blame, not easy access to guns… has anyone gone full Alex Jones and suggested this is a hoax?
The DA has said that the school had legal grounds to search his backpack.
The school knew the student had access to guns because Ethan told a school official after the search for ammo incident that target shooting was a family hobby. “Access” can mean anything from lying around the house to locked in a gun safe, and only the parents have the combo.
If the school admin had been notified of Ethan Crumbley’s social media posts with the “I am become death” quotation, I’m sure they would have searched his backpack. We can speculate on why they didn’t, but they could have, and in retrospect, they should have. I expect that after this, schools across the country will be more vigilant about checking backpacks under similar circumstances.
“enjoying video game violence” I’ll leave it there.
Let’s see if any more is made of it.
Many video games have violence or violent themes. Almost zero percent of people that enjoy video games with violence also commit murders. That’s as tenuous as it gets. But I agree we can leave it there.
I think more attention needs to be paid to the possibility that the shooter listened to jazz music. Everyone knows jazz music leads to hooliganism. It’s the number one threat to America’s Youth.
Nov 8, 2021:
No Evidence Violent Video Games Lead to Real Violence: Study | Health News | US News
From the article (summarizing a recent academic study of 8-18 year old boys)
But these findings suggest that “policies that place restrictions on video game sales to minors are unlikely to reduce violence,” Suziedelyte said.
Previous research has found little evidence of a connection between violent video games and real-life violence.
The possible link is often brought up after mass shootings where perpetrators had an interest in violent video games.
But some experts suggest that other factors, such as mental illness and/or easy access to guns, are more likely explanations for mass shootings.