All these know-nothings and ivory tower eggheads should listen to their betters.

Joe Biden knows it's video games all the way.

Yep, this false idea just won't go away no matter how much you show it to be wrong.

Video games and the Internet are not causes of violence in society, but they are symptoms. In the hands of mentally healthy young men and women, they're harmless diversions. In the hand of mentally unhealthy young men and women, they can increase feelings of anger, isolation, and societal disengagement.

We're playing a blame game, spending way too much time looking for simple solutions, things we can blame - guns, games, chat boards, the NRA, Republicans, etc.

We're like the therapy patient who, upon discovering that his inability to commit to a relationship was caused by his parents not hugging him enough as a child, declares himself cured and all his subsequent ills to be the fault of his parents, not himself. We don't want to do the real work, so we seek the convenient explanation, the one that lets us blame others, not ourselves.

Again, the causes of violence in society are not simple things we can ban or regulate. They go much deeper and will require actual work to cure.

"The fault, dear Brutus...."

We've had violent "shoot 'em up" video games since at least 1993, when DOOM was released. Kids played "Cowboys and Indians" long before that, gunning each other down repeatedly in orgies of mock violence.

The first semi-automatic rifle was invented in 1902 and sold to the public shortly afterward. The AR-15 "assault rifle" has been sold to the public since the 1960s.

We had machine guns available to civilians from 1918, when the Thompson sub-machine gun was invented, through 1934, when the National Firearms Act was passed and prohibited civilian sales of automatic weapons.

"...when the National Firearms Act was passed and prohibited civilian sales of automatic weapons."

Umm, nope. Note, "transferable".

About 250 thousand fully-automatic weapons are registered in private hands. There is no accounting for those here illegally, of course.

It the expense of ammunition and the low utility of the machine gun that makes them rare, not a prohibition.

BTW, citing the NFA requires a citation date, as restrictions have changed, notably in 1934 and 1986.

BTW, citing the NFA requires a citation date, as restrictions have changed, notably in 1934 and 1986. ~ Radwaste at August 6, 2019 7:16 AM

The point I was making was that a civilian could openly purchase a fully automatic weapon without any federal interference 100 years ago and we didn't have mass shootings.

Yes, a fully automatic weapon is expensive. It was then, too. A Thompson submachine gun in 1918 went for about $1,000, a significant sum then (and now).

The biggest sin the video game industry ever did is steal the core -18 to 34- audience from the entertainment industry.

The scant free time these young adults spend playing video games is time they are not spending at the cinema or watching TV.

Hence the constant demonization of video games by TV and news outlets.

But Japan and South Korea -- both of which have very strict laws limiting gun ownership -- have among the lowest rates of violent crime in the world, and mass casualty events are quite rare.

Their numbers are cooked, and their jails and justice system is like Turkey. Totalitarian.

Can’t say it too many times. You cannot trust the numbers coming out of Asia.

See Kyoto arson attack. As I posed on another board, if the guy hadn’t been spotted throwing gasoline and screaming die, the Japanese authorities would have classified the 34 people killed as an *accidental death* by fire.

Anything that makes Japan look bad will be covered up, or erased, It is a national pride thing. Lots of gang violence in Japan too. So many ways to kill someone without using a gun.

"But Japan and South Korea -- both of which have very strict laws limiting gun ownership -- have among the lowest rates of violent crime in the world, and mass casualty events are quite rare."

You want to live as others tell you, every moment? I'd think you'd go violent the first time you were packed into a train, literally, to go downtown.

Hmm. Do you really think guns are the reason people are violent?

Nope.

> Anything that makes Japan look
> bad will be covered up, or
> erased, It is a national
> pride thing.

I think this happens across the globe, from the level of crossroads and villages up through states and regions and nations…

Such that charts like the one on the right aren't as shame-inducing as many cluckers want them to be.

Mexico has very restrictive firearms regulations. With a population of about 126 million, there were about 30,000 murders in Mexico last year. In the U.S., with a population of about 330 million, there were about 17,000 murders.

The president of Mexico wants to sue the U.S. because Mexicans were targeted in the shooting in El Paso and Mexican nationals were killed. Even so, Mexicans are safer in the U.S. than they are in Mexico. Maybe that's part of the reason so many of them desperately want to come here.

They say the typical mass shooter is a white male. Here is a picture of every person charged with or arrested for shooting four or more people in a single incident in 2019:

https://www.wnd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/mass-shooters-2019.jpg

"Leftist puts mass shootings into perspective, then apologizes"

https://www.wnd.com/2019/08/leftist-puts-mass-shootings-into-perspective-then-apologizes/

"Yes, a fully automatic weapon is expensive. It was then, too. A Thompson submachine gun in 1918 went for about $1,000, a significant sum then (and now)."

And...

A Solothern 20mm cannon (a light infantry antitank piece) could be had, with 100 rounds of ammunition, for less than $300 in 1958. I have the ad, posted in American Rifleman.
WW2 dropped the prices on a tremendous number of weapons.

Of course, theft makes anything free for the thief.

Drudge First Item:

Demand for bulletproof backpacks surging in wake of shootings...

What the Hell is wrong with pussy Americans that they terrify themselves with elaborate, maybe-they'll-aim-for-my-back daydreams when they're statistically safer from gun violence than ever, and probably safer from deadly forces than anyone who's ever lived?

Drudge Second Item:

Inquiries Into 'License To Carry Concealed' On Rise...

Oh, okay, arms race. So we've been through this before, the two sides aren't talking to each other; Sitch normal. Eventually the irony of this will humble & overwhelm these people.

I expect the demand for bulletproof backpacks is due to schools requiring them more than parents actually demanding them.

At least that is what happens with the periodic demand for clear plastic backpacks. No reasonable person wants to use those. The tear easily and offer no real benefits. Why buy one? Sometimes they are the only bags schools will permit.

I'll always believe Disney films are one reason, a big one, that young and foolish women have entrenched and idiotic princess fantasies. Just as with action films for boys, Hollywood is exploiting and working with the clay of human nature. But Mousechwitz has some brilliant craftsman.

" I've never met a gun owner I didn't like."

I quit hunting with a couple of stoners I initially liked. One of them accidentally wounded his wife. The other one's dog farted in the truck.

And that is just entirely unacceptable.

And... ~ Radwaste at August 6, 2019 4:33 PM

The point, Rad, is that the simple availability of "assault" weapons is not causing mass shootings; and that banning them is unlikely to prevent mass shootings in the future.

The cause lies much deeper than the availability of semi-automatic weapons. Gun control advocates are seeking a simple solution to a complex societal problem.

"The point, Rad, is that..."

Didn't say it wasn't. DID point out the availability is greater than you proposed.