News
Media Reports Tie D.C. Navy Yard Shooter to Violent Video Games
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Some media reports on the Washington Naval Yard shooter have described 34-year-old former Navy reservist Aaron Alexis as "obsessed with violent video games." The gunman shot and killed 12 civilian government employees and contractors at the military facility on Monday before responding police shot and killed him.
Fox News reported Tuesday that Alexis was "obsessed with violent video games" and played them for "hours on end." The news agency interviewed University of Missouri associate professor of psychology Bruce Bartholomew who said, "More than any other media, these video games encourage active participation in violence. From a psychological perspective, video games are excellent teaching tools because they reward players for engaging in certain types of behavior. Unfortunately, in many popular video games, the behavior is violence."
The Wall Street Journal wrote that a friend of Alexis said Alexis played marathon sessions of first-person shooters that lasted hours. The Telegraph reported the gunman would play "Call of Duty and Resident Evil for up to 16 hours at a time and friends believe it could have pushed him towards becoming a mass murderer."
In the past, politicians and experts have spoke in support of and against the perceived link between violence and video games. Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said that he thought violent video games can put the mentally ill over the edge. California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said that censorship of video games may be necessary.
However, Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cited Japan's low crime rate as evidence that violent video games do not cause violent behavior. FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole agreed, stating there is not a link between violent behavior and video games. A study published in May links competitive activities and aggressive behavior, but not necessarily violent video games.
Some in Congress have looked to pass a number of bills to combat the perceived link between violence and video games. Democratic congressperson Jim Matheson introduced Bill H.R.287 in January in hopes of making ESRB ratings legally binding, and President Barack Obama has called for a scientific study investigating the suggested link, leading to open letters from the video game industry asking for no censorship. Vice President Joe Biden stated that taxation of violent video games and media would not cause a legal issue.
Source: Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
