Why would anyone need an AK-47? We started with muskets but the founding mothers could't dream of what would come. Time for some sort of sanity here.
Now to be clear, I realize prohibition simply doesn't work. But in this case, it might make a difference, small, but none the less. I don't want a neighbor with a bazooka. Or hand-grenade. I'm fine with well educated gun owners with hand guns and hunting rifles. But do we really want neighbors with ground-to-air rocket launchers? -- Owen On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 4:26 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > Jochen, et al - > > I think that both of the issues you describe (gun access and surrogate > violence in youth) are significant risk factors but neither are necessary > nor sufficient to explain (or prevent) these kinds of incidents. I am > fairly confident that limiting either or both of these factors would likely > reduce the number and/or severity of these incidents. But I think this is > *barely* the beginning... and may be as much symptoms as causes. > > The next dozen paragraphs are more of my anecdotal rattlings framing the > basis of my opinions. For the impatient, you might jump to the punchline > at the end. Or 2/3 of the way in for my musings about individual vs group > rights and responsibilities. > > I come from a culture deeply steeped in the ownership and use of > firearms. I do believe the sincerity of many of those who wish to and > believe they have a right to (at least in most of the US) own firearms. I > also believe that despite that sincerity, there are others whose sincerity > is not even a little informed... they are at best "aping" the convenient > explanations and excuses for why *they* need to and deserve to own as many > guns (and more importantly as much ammunition) of as many types (focusing > primarily on concealable, high capacity, rapid firing, human-stopping or > armor piercing examples). While these folks will insist that their > firearms are "tools", they have all the qualities of "toys", and in many > cases, have few qualities of tools. So while I'm sympathetic with the > underlying "right to bear arms", various concepts of individual rights and > self-defense, I know through extensive experience that most contemporary > gun ownership is a self-indulgent (and potentially risky) behaviour. But > I also understand that the Pandora's box of personal gun ownership has been > open for a very long time and closing it is never going to be easy or > without collateral harms. > > I also have spent decades developing tools and systems for synthesizing > experiences (computer graphics, scientific and information visualization, > virtual reality, etc.) and believe in the power of inducing new states of > understanding and awareness through synthetic "experiences". Watching > movies or even reading stories about extreme violence can be very risky, > but the immediacy of a computer game makes something that can be > experienced in the third person a definite first person experience. That > is the very point of it, naturally. VR has been used by the military > effectively in everything from skill training > (flight/driving/weapons-systems) to mission familiarization/planning > (providing perceptual and even kinesthetic memory of a location and a > sequence of events) to after-action, debriefing and even PTSD treatment. > So it should not be surprising (to anyone?) that first person shooters can > make it *much* easier (technically, socially, and emotionally) for someone > to carry out the kinds of massacres that we have seen in the last 20 > years or > so<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers#School_massacres>. > The US Government Sponsored first-person Shooter "Americas > Army<http://gamepipe.usc.edu/%7Ezyda/pubs/ShillingGameon2002.pdf>" > was overtly designed as a recruiting tool, but was also designed to provide > a strong "socialization" element, to not only identify potential "soldiers" > but to help lead (or even train) them into the desired > mentality/emotional-state long before signing up or arriving at boot camp. > > A classmate of mine, on the Thanksgiving weekend of 1972, shot and killed > his elderly parents in their home with his "varmit rifle", a single shot > .22 that they had given him several years before to "plink" at the ground > squirrels, rabbits, coyotes and bobcats in the rural areas near our > homes. This shooting required that he reload several times (manually) to > kill them as he did. This was neither high caliber nor high capacity or > rapid-fire. I happened to be in the mountains hunting for deer (with a > Bow) with a friend while this was happening, and heard about it when I > returned. It was a small town and probably all anyone talked about for > months. Everyone was very shocked. Bernie was a amiable, well adjusted, > thoughtful young man. He was a year older than me and he was in national > honor society, played in the school band, and on the school baseball team > and worked as a lifeguard at the local public pool. He was neither an > overly aggressive nor overly shy young man. He seemed well adjusted. He > had two somewhat older sisters who were high performers in many ways, and > Bernie was raised somewhat as an only child, at least through his teen > years. The best understanding I have of his actions were a consequence of > the (relative) stress he apparently felt to perform up to his older > sister's standards. His parents were in their 60's which separated them > somewhat from our generation, even more than the 30 or 40-something parents > the rest of us had. There was no indication of abuse, physical or > emotional. > > Bernie called the Sheriff himself and waited quietly for them to arrive. > He described his actions as if he were a third person watching. He > described in detail what he did, but claimed he did not know "who that was" > who was doing it. As a juvenile (16 years old) he was put into a juvenile > detention facility and released when he was 18 with closed records. He > apparently passed the mental health standards of the time or else he might > have been put into a mental health facility which does not distinguish > adolescent from adult in quite the same way as the criminal system. I > knew several of our peers who had contact with him after he was released > who reported that he was quite normal. 30 years later I encountered > someone who had been in limited contact with him who said that he was > rather strange but not obviously out of normal range. Unfortunately he > had also taken to collecting guns despite his history and apparently being > considered by legal standards unfit for gun ownership, even by the US > fairly liberal standards. I suggested to the person who gave me this > information that it might be a good thing to alert someone in authority. > I'd not be terribly shocked if he ended up on the front page of the paper > again. Bernie can't be a lone example. He very likely has a growing gun > collection and a growing estrangement from his peers. But I could be > wrong, I have very little data. > > Several of the mass shootings have been close to me in one way or another, > so they are not abstract to me. When the Columbine thing happened, my > girlfriend at the time had a brother with kids just a few years too young > to be at Columbine, but lived in the community and were nearby when the > shootings occurred, knew some of the victims families, etc. A good friend > of mine had a son going to school at Virginia Tech, my daughter lives 1/2 > mile from the Denver theater and could have as easily been at the theater > that night as not, and I have cousins who live between New Haven and Sandy > Hook, I do not know if they have any personal connections with the victims. > > The small town I grew up in is the county seat of the infamous Catron > County, NM where a County ordinance <http://www.hcn.org/issues/19/550>was > proposed *requiring* all heads of household to own a firearm. For the > most part they were acting in the spirit of local celebrity legend Elfego > Baca <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfego_Baca>. It seemed to be an > annual occurrence during hunting season for one or another of the local > badass elements to end up in a shooting accident, often at the hands of > their own family... a cousin or an uncle... maybe not unlike southern > Sicily? Frontier Justice well into the second half of the 20th century? I > don't glorify gun ownership (or use) but do recognize it as a reality in > most of the rural USA and much of suburbia (especially people coming from > rural experiences). As wrong-headed as those who have little or no direct > experience with gun-ownership or use may find gun-culture, it is painfully > clear how deep and wide gun culture is in the US. I feel badly and > responsible for our culture exporting this kind of culture (through movies > and video games) to other cultures who have a much better literal > relationship with their firearms (e.g. Canada, Europe, etc.) > > I do believe that the depiction and practice of gunplay, especially in the > context of killing other human beings (is there much other contemporary use > of guns except to either kill or threaten to kill other humans?), is an > obvious and huge contributor to the gun violence (singular or massive) in > the United States and I presume the rest of Western culture. Yes I know > "hunting"... but even in a semi-rural environment in the heart of the old > west I find that to be less real and relevant than some might think (not to > be entirely dismissed, but maybe discounted somewhat?). Of my friends who > hunt, I'd say 3/4 prefer archery over firearms. The licenses are more > available and despite modern compound bow technology, it *is* a bit more > sportsmanlike than rifles with scopes with ranges on the order of hundreds > of yards). > > The kicker, in my opinion, is twofold: First, how do we draw a line for > the implied censorship, whether it be censoring gun ownership or censoring > "speech" in the sense of the creation, publication, purchasing, and playing > of computer games; Second, even if we figure out what the "there, there" > might be, how do we get from "here" to "there"? I'm not saying we don't > have to try, and I'm not saying there might not be a path... just that it > is much more subtle and hard than many would like to imagine. > > This may seem academic to those of you who live in Western Europe where > the problem of private gun ownership has been mostly settled long ago. It > may also seem academic to those who have never lived amongst a gun-culture > and who believe it is simply a matter of changing some laws and jacking up > the enforcement of them. > > The USA and I think most of Europe has settled the question of censorship > on the extreme liberal side... it seems to be (almost?) never appropriate > to limit speech, especially when the speech is "passive" or third person or > fictitious or descriptive rather than prescriptive. Perhaps we do use > peoples' direct incitement to violence and sedition as an indicator of > their intentions or a surrogate for their actions, but it doesn't take much > to make such things indirect and therefore only subject to (legal or > social) suspicion, not direct reaction. The neo-nazi skinheads might be > the best example of groups who have learned how to play right up to that > line without going far enough over to get their asses handed to them by the > rest of us. In this spirit, I don't know how we can get the violent games > out of the hands of teens... perhaps the same way got alcohol, drugs, and > tobacco out of their hands (not so effectively)? The movie rating systems > already try to deal with this and I would claim to a fairly ineffective > level. 80's action-drama TV series such as the A-Team in the US are > examples of glorifying contemporary gunplay, even if the bad guys were > always very bad and also bad shots. > > - Steve > > Footnote to James' response: I think I agree with your point that there > is a much deeper problem exposed in this kind of violence. However I still > think that there are *qualitative* if not quantitative problems with the US > Gun Culture, whether exhibited in our fetish around handguns and assault > and sniper style rifles, or in the violence and gore and cold-bloodedness > of our movies and our computer games. The arguements (which I think you > only reference but not necessarily endorse) about various forms of violent > activity (contact sports or computer games) being an important way to > redirect or sublimate otherwise natural violent instincts are at least > misleading if not very wrong. mil > > Footnote to Eric's response: I also know lots of young people who were > trained in the use of and have access to guns who are also exposed to > violent movies and video games. Statistically I feel fairly safe, you are > correct that despite the high profile and tragic nature of these events, > they are fairly infrequent (but on the increase?), but that does not mean I > am not disturbed by the potential in every one of those kids to blur the > line between their fantasy lives and their real lives. Oh yeah... and the > adults born and raised to this as well... it's not like turning 18 or 30 > necessarily removes the risk... though maybe some of the more questionable > hormones. > > > > > 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 > > > > ============================================================ > 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 >
============================================================ 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
