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January 11, 2013

BLOG: Guns are the problem, not video games

James Bright The Express-Star

CHICKASHA — Ok, after some serious soul searching and constant deliberation I decided it's time for me to comment on the gun control debate raging currently raging in our country.

Now I am not going to get on a rant and I am not going to spend 400 words explaining my interpretation of what the founding fathers intended with the Second Amendment.

I'm simply going to state a few facts.

Nationmaster.com has the United States listed as the country with the highest rate of violent crimes worldwide. Today, Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with different video game creators and script writers to assess the situation regarding violent media and how it affects our youth.

Without any knowledge of what is being said during these meeting I can state one fact. Japan has far more violent games, movies and cartoons that are annually produced compared to the United States, yet their violent crime rate pales in comparison to ours. The simple reality is that we like to place the blame on these entertainment producers for the actions a few nut jobs. Further restrictions on these forms of media would simply be a punishment that in no way fits the crime.

Now, I think it's important to note that I am in no way an advocate of guns. I don't own a gun and I don't plan to own one. I have no problem with those that own hand guns. I'm not going to write anything about America's over reaction to fear. The truth is it's a scary world. People need to defend themselves.

However, I do not advocate the purchasing of assault weapons privately for any reason. More than half of all school shootings in our nation's history have occurred since 2005 when the federal ban on assault weapons was lifted. To me, that's a pretty obvious correlation.

Now some will argue that these weapons allow citizens to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. Once upon a time that may have been true, but that is simply not the case. No amount of privately purchased weapons could protect us from the U.S. military should our government turn tyrannical. Our only hope in that regard is if the government were to lose control of its military like we saw in Egypt. Hence, assault weapons have no purpose.

Ok, that's it. This is a bit more long winded than I'd intended. Feel free to comment to and rip my ideas apart. I always favor a good discussion.

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