Control: Exposing the Truth About Guns
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PART TWO: WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS
“before taking a stolen handgun out of his backpack and opening fire” Daniel Pederson, “Tragedy in a Small Place,” Newsweek, December 14, 1997, http://thebea.st/11gYuZQ. • “ ‘And then I woke up’ ” Rick Bragg, “Forgiveness, After 3 Die in Shootings in Kentucky,” New York Times, December 3, 1997, http://nyti.ms/11gYn09. • “ ‘Kill me, please’ ” Julie Grace and West Paducah, “When Silence Fell,” Time, June 24, 2001, http://ti.me/11h8emA. • “register a hit with only 20 percent of their shots from seven yards” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie, and Video Game Violence (New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 4. • “this ninth-grade boy had never fired a real pistol before” Daniel Pederson, “Tragedy in a Small Place,” Newsweek, December 14, 1997, http://thebea.st/11gYuZQ. • “modeled after a similar scene in the movie Basketball Diaries” Donald P. Baker, “As Kentucky Town Mourns, Movie Suggested as Basis for Boy’s Attack,” Washington Post, December 6,1997, http://wapo.st/11h826W. • “The book? Rage, by Stephen King” Stephen King, Guns (New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition. • “fewer than 10 percent of lifelong smokers will ever get lung cancer” Christopher Wanjek, “Smoking’s Many Myths Examined,” livescience.com, November 18, 2008, http://bit.ly/11h88M3. • “move up the ranks of a criminal organization” Rockstar Games, Information, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., 2008, http://bit.ly/11gYLvM. • “ ‘may lead to increased aggressive behavior in certain subgroups of children’ ” Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, Television and Growing Up: The Impact of Televised Violence: Report to the Surgeon General, U.S. Public Health Service, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972. • “ ‘motivated by violent video games’ ” “Sandy Hook Shooter Adam Lanza Blacked Out Game Room, Bedroom,” CBS News, February 19, 2013, http://cbsn.ws/11gYPLP. • “ ‘was him and that TV screen with his tactical shooting game’ ” “Sandy Hook Shooter Adam Lanza Blacked Out Game Room, Bedroom,” cbsnews.com, February 19, 2013, http://cbsn.ws/11gYPLP. • “Or something you learn playing kill games” Mike Lupica, “Lupica: Morbid find suggests murder-obsessed gunman Adam Lanza plotted Newtown, Conn.’s Sandy Hook massacre for years,” New York Daily News, March 17, 2013, http://nydn.us/YsqXcr. • “ ‘rack up the most kills—and played it every afternoon’ ” “Anatomy of a Massacre,” Newsweek, May 2, 1999, http://thebea.st/11gYRU8. • “ ‘hey it’s just a game,’ I say ‘I don’t care.’ ” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, “Columbine Documents: JC-001–025923 Through JC-001–026859,” (report, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Golden, CO, January 8, 2003), 272, http://bit.ly/11gYXer. • “spent most of his time playing video games” Larry Bell, “Irrational Gun Rights Won’t Prevent Senseless Violence,” Forbes, December 23, 2012, http://onforb.es/11gYZ60. • “ ‘i know how to cut a body open and eat you for more then a week. ;-)’ ” Alexandra Berzon, John R. Emshwiller, and Robert A. Guth, “Postings of a Troubled Mind: Accused Shooter Wrote on Gaming Site of His Job Woes, Rejection by Women,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2001, http://on.wsj.com/11gZ89G. • “he liked to play Quake and Doom—two violent video games” John Cloud/Springfield, “Of Arms and the Boy,” Time, June 24, 2001, http://ti.me/11gZbSU. • “ ‘Everybody’s got to die sometime’ ” Rebecca Leung, “Can a Video Game Lead to Murder?” CBS News, February 11, 2009, http://cbsn.ws/11h7VYZ. • “he appeared to have reenacted a scene from the game” Rebecca Leung, “Can a Video Game Lead to Murder?” CBS News, February 11, 2009, http://cbsn.ws/11h7VYZ. • “killing one person and seriously wounding another” “Grand Theft Auto Comes Under Fire,” BBC News, May 4, 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3680481.stm. • “ ‘re-create scenes from the cult game [Grand Theft Auto]’ ” Martyn Leek, “The Murder Rampage Game for Kids,” Sunday Mercury, January 4, 2004, http://bit.ly/11gZhKb. • “the boy was stopped before anyone was hurt” Jack Thompson, “More Columbines,” Washington Times, July 1, 2004, http://bit.ly/11gZnBw. • “ ‘He played them too much, I am embarrassed to say’ ” Jack Thompson, “More Columbines,” Washington Times, July 1, 2004, http://bit.ly/11gZnBw.
SOMETHING IS DIFFERENT
“ ‘most heavily armed people in the world’ ” John Morgan Dederer, War in America to 1775: Before Yankee Doodle (New York: New York University Press, 1990), 116. • “homicides involving guns were ‘rare’ ” Roger Lane, Murder in America: A History (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1998), 59–60. • “ ‘the murder rate declined 27.7 percent’ ” Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser, “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 30, no. 2 (Spring 2007), 685, http://hvrd.me/11gZvkC. • “the United States experienced its first double homicide in a school” Katherine Ramsland, “School Killers,“Crime Library at trutv.com, accessed March 2, 2013, http://bit.ly/11h7SMQ. • “where a juvenile committed a multiple homicide in a school prior to 1975” Wikipedia, “School Shooting,” accessed March 8, 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting. • “he killed fifteen people at his high school” “German school gunman ‘kills 15,’ ” BBC News, March 11 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7936817.stm. • “he was an avid video game player” “Teen Killer’s Victims Mourned,” news24.com, March 21, 2009, http://n24.cm/11gZywy. • “ ‘battle each other to the death’ ” “Brave Teacher Stopped Gun Rampage,” cnn.com, April 27, 2002, http://bit.ly/11gZA7Q. • “a fourteen-year-old murdered two of his fellow students in his school in Rauma” “School Shootings Rare in Finland,” yle.fi, July 11, 2007, http://bit.ly/11gZEUU. • “in Tuusula, an eighteen-year-old student murdered eight classmates in his high school” “School Shootings Rare in Finland,” yle.fi, July 11, 2007, http://bit.ly/11gZEUU. • “a twenty-two-year-old student murdered ten people at Seinäjoki University” Attila Cser, “ Gunman Kills 10, Self in Finnish School Shooting,” reuters.com, September 23, 2008, http://reut.rs/11gZLzV. • “two people were murdered by a student at Monash University in Australia” “Two People Shot Dead, Five Wounded at Monash Uni,” smh.com.au, October 21, 2002, http://bit.ly/11gZOf5. • “Two more were murdered by a seventeen-year-old student in his school in Thailand” “Schoolyard Killings: Second student dies; security beefed up,” thenationmultimedia.com, accessed March 2, 2013, http://bit.ly/11gZPQg. • “Four people were killed by a fifteen-year-old student in their Argentina high school” “4 Die in Argentina School Shooting,” cbsnews.com, February 11, 2009, http://cbsn.ws/11h7NZN. • “a former student returned to his old middle school with two .38-caliber revolvers” Jeff Fick and John Lyons, “Rio Shooter Kills at Least 12 Young Students,” Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2011, http://on.wsj.com/11gZWeH. • “murdered sixty-nine people and injured at least 110” Australian Associated Press, “Norway Marks Anniversary of Twin Attacks that Claimed 77 Lives,” Herald Sun, April 23, 2012, http://nyti.ms/11gZXiH. • “In the year before the massacre, he would play World of Warcraft and Call of Duty extensively, sometimes up to sixteen hours a day” Paul Goodman, “Norwegian Mass Murderer Defends Gaming Habits,” escapistmagazine.com, April 19, 2012, http://bit.ly/11gZZqE.
DENYING THE SCIENCE
“ ‘there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life violence’ ” American Academy of Pediatrics: Committee on Communications, “Media Violence,” Pediatrics 95, no. 6 (June 1, 1995), 949–51, http://bit.ly/11h0mBK. • “American children ages two to eleven see the first hour of prime-time shows on weekday evenings” JT Hamilton, Channeling violence: The economic market for violent television programming, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998). • “American children under eight years old spend an average of two hours and fourteen minutes a day consuming digital media and television,” Common Sense Media, Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America (San Francisco: Common Sense Media, Inc., 2011), http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/zerotoeightfinal2011.pdf. • “ ‘Nonviolent vi
deo game play also did not predict higher levels of aggressive behavior over time’ ” T. Willoughby, PJ Adachi, and M. Good, “A Longitudinal Study of the Association Between Violent Video Game Play and Aggression Among Adolescents,” (study, Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 2012); http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22040315. • “virtually mimic what has been found in other longitudinal studies” Douglas A. Gentile, Media Violence and Children (Westport, CT: Praeger, November 30, 2003), 69–70. • “there have been thousands of studies performed and opinions issues over the last half century” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence (New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 132–36. • “ ‘it is the single most easily remediable contributing factor’ ” American Academy of Pediatrics: Committee on Communications, “Media Violence,” Pediatrics 95, no. 6 (June 1, 1995), 949–51, http://bit.ly/WW2Vv3.
STIMULUS/RESPONSE
“youth had witnessed an average of 200,000 acts of violence on television by age eighteen” Aletha C. Huston, Edward Donnerstein, Halford Fairchild, and others, Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992). • “ ‘media consumption among youth in the psychiatric population is 6 hours per day’ ” Matt DeLisi, Michael G. Vaughn, Douglas A. Gentile, and others, “Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence: New Evidence,” Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 10, no. 4 (October 17, 2012). • “They quickly learn that violence is an acceptable solution” Aletha C. Huston, Edward Donnerstein, Halford Fairchild, and others, Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992). • “determine if those who’d played the violent games would be more aggressive” Christopher R. Englehardt, Bruce D. Bartholow, Geoffrey T. Kerr, and others, “This Is Your Brain on Violent Video Games: Neural Desensitization to Violence Predicts Increased Aggression Following Violent Video Game Exposure,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47, no. 5 (September 20011), 1033–36. • “ ‘predicted an increase in aggression’ ” Christopher R. Englehardt, Bruce D. Bartholow, Geoffrey T. Kerr, and others, “This Is Your Brain on Violent Video Games: Neural Desensitization to Violence Predicts Increased Aggression Following Violent Video Game Exposure,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47, no. 5 (September 20011), 1033–36. • “we can ‘detox’ a child in a couple of days just by turning off the TV and video games” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, personal communication. • “ ‘young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home’ ” “Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men,” Medical School News at indiana.edu, December 1, 2011, http://bit.ly/11h0uB6. • “ ‘are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior’ ” Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men,” Medical School News at indiana.edu, December 1, 2011, http://bit.ly/11h0uB6. • “ ‘effects may translate into behavioral changes over longer periods of game play’ ” Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men,” Medical School News at indiana.edu, December 1, 2011, http://bit.ly/11h0uB6.
THE TRUTH ABOUT (NO) CONSEQUENCES
“ ‘points are awarded for the murder of female prostitutes’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence (New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 70. • “(and actually was banned in Australia)” Tony Smith, “Australia Bans Manhunt,” theregister.co.uk, September 30, 2004, http://bit.ly/11h2rxx. • “ ‘sticking axes into dudes, etc. It’s all really standard fare, actually’ ” Josh Wanamaker, “14 Most Offensive Video Games Ever,” gameranx.com, September 28, 2012, http://bit.ly/11h2wkT. • “Grossman’s Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence (New York: Crown Publishers, 1999). • “Josh Wanamaker of Gameranx.com” Josh Wanamaker, “14 Most Offensive Video Games Ever,” gameranx.com, September 28, 2012, http://bit.ly/11h2wkT. • “games that allow the player to be the killers in horrific real-life events” Josh Wanamaker, “14 Most Offensive Video Games Ever,” gameranx.com, September 28, 2012, http://bit.ly/11h2For. • “ ‘a “reward” for youth to spend their free time, it can be problematic’ ” Matt DeLisi, Michael G. Vaughn, Douglas A. Gentile, and others, “Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence: New Evidence,” Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 10, no. 4 (October 17, 2012).
TRAINED TO KILL
“ ‘The violence in games hadn’t prepared them for this’ ” Jose Antonio Vargas, “Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War,” Washington Post, February 14, 2006, http://wapo.st/11h2Lwd. • “in World War II only 15–20 percent of individual riflemen fired their weapons in close combat” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 36. • “to 55 percent in Korea, to upwards of 95 percent since Vietnam” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 36. • “spent $1 billion on games technology that gets soldiers combat ready” “Moving to the Dark Side of the Screen,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 13, 2006, http://bit.ly/11h2PMx. • “ ‘combat simulators [are] . . . the fastest way to train troops and the easiest way to save money’ ” “Moving to the Dark Side of the Screen,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 13, 2006, http://bit.ly/11h2PMx. • “ ‘the U.S. Army has created their own violent video game as a recruitment tool’ ” Douglas A. Gentile, Media Violence and Children (Westport, CT: Praegar, November 30, 2003), 136. • “ ‘This is simply astounding [for an untrained gunman]’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, “Statement of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Before the New York State Legislature, October 1999,” thefreeradical.ca, accessed March 3, 2013, http://bit.ly/11h2XeZ. • “ ‘This is what should be expected from an untrained shooter’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, “Statement of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Before the New York State Legislature, October 1999,” thefreeradical.ca, accessed March 3, 2013, http://bit.ly/11h2XeZ. • “ ‘behaviors that could only have been learned in a video game’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, “Statement of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Before the New York State Legislature, October 1999,” thefreeradical.ca, accessed March 3, 2013, http://bit.ly/11h2XeZ. • “ ‘they did that naturally because the violent shooting game they played rewarded head shots’ ” Bradley Cornelius, “Dr. Brad Bushman, Ohio State University—Video Games and Shooting Skill,” wamc.org, July 19, 2012, http://bit.ly/11h7spY. • “who reportedly shot his own mother several times in the head” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 128. • “the ‘Fire Arms Training Simulator’ is . . . similar to the violent video game Time Crisis” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence (New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 66. • “ ‘You have no choice but to shoot him and hope for the best’ ” Alan Feuer, “Ready, Aim, Ready?” New York Times, December 8, 2012, http://nyti.ms/11h3766. • “ ‘and unless you do scenario and role-play training, they’re not going to have the experience to fall back on’ ” Alan Feuer, “Ready, Aim, Ready?” New York Times, December 8, 2012, http://nyti.ms/11h3766. • “admitted that Rage was known to each of these killers . . . was a ‘possible accelerant’ ” Stephen King, Guns (New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition. • “ ‘[the book’s main character] had to go. He was dangerous’ ” Stephen King, Guns (New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition. • “ ‘America’s so-called culture of violence plays a significant role in kid-on-kid school shootings’ ” Stephen King, Guns (New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition.