The recent shooting at Sandy Hook, Conneticut, reminded me of the shooting in Winnenden 3 years ago. In 2009, a teenager killed 15 people at a School in southern Germany. It turned out his father owned many guns legally and took him occasionally to a shooting club. The son played frequently shooting games like "Counter Strike". The combination of learning to kill people in virtual worlds and learning to shoot in the real world was toxic for the young troubled teenager. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnenden_school_shooting
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting now seems to be similar: the mother owned many guns legally and used them, she went through target shooting with her son. The son apparently liked violent video games (probably first-person shooter as well). Again the combination of learning to kill people in virtual worlds and learning to shoot in the real world was toxic for the young person and certainly contributed to the disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting If we want to prevent these shootings happening again, then we must either make it much harder for children to go to shooting clubs and to participate in shooting sport, or we must make it much harder for underage persons to get first-person shooter games. Or both. What do you think? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_sport -J. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
