“…However, if movies are indicative of this, then video games are even worse. Here may lie the true cause of desensitization in the country. The first video game with a gun in it likely had crude graphics where you shot something at nonhuman object and if you hit your mark it disappeared or withered away. Today, the modern first person shooter game puts you in the shoes of the shooter and equips you with the world’s finest weapons. The graphics are of such high quality you may mistake that you were actually walking the through the video game scene with an AK47 in your hand and grenades on your waist. And of course then comes the part of actually killing. Crowds of the enemy may approach you, yet as you, the shooter, shoot them down you are in a position of power. Each time you successfully shoot down a target, you can see the blood spurting from their body and the target slowly falling down as they would in real life. The best part is when you have cleared an area, when there was a crowd of the enemy standing in front of you but with your gun you were able to mow them down, be it terrorists from Call of Duty, Zombie Natives from Far Cry 3, or 6 year olds from Sandy Hook Elementary School….

Yes you can argue that its just a video game, but if a child’s been playing this game since he was 8 years old maybe it can evolve into something else; maybe it pushes certain ideas in his head or change his perception of what is right and what is wrong. Video games weren’t the sole cause of Columbine, Sandy Hooks, or other killings in the country but they are assisting in the creation of psychotic killers in our country and contributing to a desensitized gun culture in our country. I know that other factors will be given much more attention in response to the Sandy Hooks killings such as gun control laws and mental health institutions in our country, but I hope as a country that we simply become aware of the effect things such as video games or even movies can have. Next time a kid asks for a game such as Call of Duty, do not just give it to him, ask him why? If he says because he wants to simulate what its like to be in the army, then have him work out and discipline him like a real army man, if he says its to play with his friends, put him in sports or some other activity where he can interact with other kids, and if he says its for the joy of being a shooter and killing on screen, then pray and try to correct his attitude for the safety of our country.”