14 year old shoots parents, blames video games

[Church185]

In short, a teenager shoots his parents (didn't manage to kill them) because they took away his video games. The full story is here [http://gamepolitics.com/2013/03/13/14-year-old-shoots-parents-blames-video-games#.UUNGUhkyE3o]. There are a few strange things about this story though. The boy said he voluntarily quit playing "violent games" years ago because he said that they made him violent, and that he had been planning to kill his parents since he was 8. The house was rigged with a surveillance system because the parents didn't trust the teen due to past misdeeds.

I really want to know if this will cause another call for games to be controlled. To be honest I feel like he is just blaming games to get a more lenient sentence due to the media buzz that surrounded the Sandy Hook massacre.

other source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/nathon-brooks-teen-shot-parents-video-games_n_2868805.html

 

[Jiefu]

"He said he just heard over and over in his head that he would be able to do whatever he wanted if he killed his parents."

Yeeeeeeeaaaaahhhh, it wasn't the video games. This kid is clearly mentally ill. He needed psychiatric care, not a surveillance system.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I usually hate the armchair psychologists cries of "he must have been crazy" shocking crimes tend to bring out, but if the "hearing in his head" bit is correct, and not mere hyperbole, then it would seem to be justified this time.

 

[Weaver]

I think if the parents had to hook up a surveillance system when he was 8 years old... there was a lot more than video games to worry about.

 

[Terminate421]

God fucking dammit. Another one, of course he blames them because he's a fucking kid.

Take some responsibility and stop hurting our industry you assholes.

 

[an annoyed writer]

This guy is mentally ill, no doubt about it. What worries me is that he will get away with this shit by getting a lenient sentence, because the judge is probably going to be an older person who isn't educated about games and shit. All this is doing is harming our favored medium and making building a much more solid foundation harder.

 

[Zhukov]

"Ultimately the voice telling him to do it was louder than the one telling him not to,? the police report said. ?He said he just heard over and over in his head that he would be able to do whatever he wanted if he killed his parents.?

Uh... I'm not 100% on this, but I think that's intended to be metaphorical rather than saying he was literally hearing voices in his head.

Not much else to add to this.

You may commence your kneejerk "leave our video games alone!" defence.

 

[Basement Cat]

Oh, hell!

I primarily play mighty Hidden Objects games and don't even own a console for playing AAA games (or a computer capable of playing them either) but this obsession with games being the root of all evil is annoying.

Can't anyone see that a HUGE amount of modern real life violence stems from copy-cats who get their ideas from the media covering RL violence with "Reality Show" style?

 

[Fappy]

Whether he's complete nuts or not it is clear he's just a stupid kid avoiding responsibility for his actions. Not much different than most people unfortunately... then again, most people don't shoot their parents.

 

[aba1]

Well they are called mature games and if your child is not mature enough to play them you likely shouldn't be letting them. The child was clearly not mentally stable and giving him violent video games was a bad idea. I do feel video games can be a bad influence but if you don't think your kid is stable enough to handle the mature themes then don't expose them to them.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Well, glad to see that Mass Effect is continuing it's reign of terror by directly leading to the deaths of innocents!
Hope you're proud of yourself EA!

 

[Dead Seerius]

For once 'violence due to video games' is a justified title, but not for the reason people immediately think.
Maybe a kid will attempt to murder his parents because they stop letting him eat cookies, and we can start claiming cookies lead to violence.

In all seriousness though, this is pretty sad. In my unprofessional opinion, I'd say the kid is nuts a psychopath. Shame the parents didn't do more than a surveilance system.

 

[Darks63]

Not a surprise really its connected to a greater issue with people not being able to take personal responsibility anymore in the US. Rather they blame anything and anyone they can so as not to have to take a introspective look at themselves.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I can't help but notice that the article said the kid pried open his dad's gun safe.
Uh...
Assuming they aren't just substituting the word "unlocked" with something more spicy, someone with a gun safe, tell me: Exactly how easy is it to physically PRY open of these open?

 

[King Aragorn]

I know if I research this any further, i'll just get pissed off, so I wont.
But.
As I always say, if you set up a surveillance system for your kid, you should not, in any case, give him access to video games. Violent ones, at that.

Wonderful parenting.

 

[Ziodyne64]

Well, I can definitely see this becoming a thing. We just can't get a break can we?

 

[krazykidd]

God fucking dammit. Another one, of course he blames them because he's a fucking kid.

Take some responsibility and stop hurting our industry you assholes.

What can you say? The kid's smart . Hell if i shot my parents i'd blame videogames to troll and hope to get off scott free . Plus he's 14 , i sincerly doubt people are going to jump on the " video games are bad " bandwagon because a 14 year old said so . Now if he said nothing however ...

 

[The White Hunter]

I can't help but notice that the article said the kid pried open his dad's gun safe.
Uh...
Assuming they aren't just substituting the word "unlocked" with something more spicy, someone with a gun safe, tell me: Exactly how easy is it to physically PRY on of these open?

Well if years of myhtbusters have taught me anything it's that actual safes are really fucking hard to break into.

Like, plasma cutter is needed, that kind of hard > >

OT: Psycopath, imprisonment, do not allow to claim insanity, because he isn't, simple.

 

[Stomperchomper]

I can't help but notice that the article said the kid pried open his dad's gun safe.
Uh...
Assuming they aren't just substituting the word "unlocked" with something more spicy, someone with a gun safe, tell me: Exactly how easy is it to physically PRY on of these open?

Would depend on the quality of the safe, I've seen some that you couldn't get open short of crushing them beneath a bulldozer or something, but I'm sure there are crappy low cost ones out there that you could open with a simple crowbar or something.