Halo Killer Sentenced to Life

[Halbyrd]

There's a point you're ignoring here. I think it's well established that if someone is bound and determined to kill you, they're going to find a way. Having a handgun allows you to stop someone else from threatening you, even if they're bigger, stronger, crazier, or whatever. And this is what makes them unique among weapons--in short, they are an equalizer.

Who's going to kill me!? So far we have the unlikely event that a stranger will do it. Even then I'm pretty sure you can talk your way out of those situations. Remember that thing? Talking? Apparently my words can be bullets.

I have plenty of respect for the majority of people. And yes, chances are you're not going to need to have a gun to get out of a potentially dangerous situation 99 times out of 100. But when that 100th time comes around, and you are faced with someone who won't be talked down, who won't let you go, you're gonna want something to defend yourself with. Sorry, I should rephrase, I will want appropriate defensive measures when that occurs. You don't seem to feel the need to own a firearm, and I'm fine with that.

"Ohh, you're gonna git it when dem big angry men come froo with dem guns and whatnot."

Please. Have more respect for the human race.

It becomes hard to respect a person who insults my intelligence, as you have done repeatedly. If you're not mature enough to engage in a debate without such foolishness, then feel free to flame someone else. I'm not interested.

 

[Dooly95]

I hope you learn when things go to hell, the "police and armed services" are going to be gone and saving themselves and their loved ones. They won't care about their cities, posts, commanders, and they'll care even less about you.

Oh yeah, at least America has never *ever* banned a movie or game due to it's content. unlike our "open-minded" European counterparts.

When things go to hell, I doubt a pistol would do much against a horde of the damned.

And people wonder why Americans are violent.

Sorry for the double post, bu you posted while I was posintg, and I need to deal with this moronic stereotype.

Nobody died at the superbowl last year. In fact, I don't remrmber a single injury occuring at the super bowl last year. How many soccer riot casualties in peaceful Europe, eh?

AMERICANS DIDN'T INVENT VIOLENCE.

Also, the French were involved in every war but Korea during the 1900s before America was. We're not the source of all violence on the planet, nor are we the most violent, or opulent, or even imperialistic (although I will admit President Bush made stunning efforts). We also don't all wear cowboy hats, even out here in the west. And also, the man your quoting was talking about mass riots, which have, and do continue, to happen around the world.

/annoyed rant.

Forgive my ignorance, I thought riots were targeting governments, not individuals such as myself. If a crowd was to come to me intending to kill, I also doubt a pistol would do much help there either. If guns were allowed, I'd also think they'd have an easier time killing me in the first place.

You cite one example LAST YEAR and say that's proof of America's innocence over violence? You name sporting gatherings. I name armed robberies, murders, drive-bys, shootings... which, oddly enough, I don't hear a lot of on the news I get here. How odd, that.

Nowhere I have said that America invented violence. I also did not say that they were the most violent. Yes, it was a mistake on my part to stereotype a whole country based on a few bad apples. I was trying to implicate if there was some form of "filtering" for media, and if these were controlled better than what they were now, perhaps we'd see a lot less of the shootings that's become commonplace.

A mother is dead and a father injured because of a gun - I thought this would lead to the thought-process of "hang on, if there was no gun involved...?"

 

[Theophenes]

I hope you learn when things go to hell, the "police and armed services" are going to be gone and saving themselves and their loved ones. They won't care about their cities, posts, commanders, and they'll care even less about you.

Oh yeah, at least America has never *ever* banned a movie or game due to it's content. unlike our "open-minded" European counterparts.

When things go to hell, I doubt a pistol would do much against a horde of the damned.

And people wonder why Americans are violent.

Sorry for the double post, bu you posted while I was posintg, and I need to deal with this moronic stereotype.

Nobody died at the superbowl last year. In fact, I don't remrmber a single injury occuring at the super bowl last year. How many soccer riot casualties in peaceful Europe, eh?

AMERICANS DIDN'T INVENT VIOLENCE.

Also, the French were involved in every war but Korea during the 1900s before America was. We're not the source of all violence on the planet, nor are we the most violent, or opulent, or even imperialistic (although I will admit President Bush made stunning efforts). We also don't all wear cowboy hats, even out here in the west. And also, the man your quoting was talking about mass riots, which have, and do continue, to happen around the world.

/annoyed rant.

Forgive my ignorance, I thought riots were targeting governments, not individuals such as myself. If a crowd was to come to me intending to kill, I also doubt a pistol would do much help there either. If guns were allowed, I'd also think they'd have an easier time killing me in the first place.

You cite one example LAST YEAR and say that's proof of America's innocence over violence? You name sporting gatherings. I name armed robberies, murders, drive-bys, shootings... which, oddly enough, I don't hear a lot of on the news I get here. How odd, that.

Nowhere I have said that America invented violence. I also did not say that they were the most violent. Yes, it was a mistake on my part to stereotype a whole country based on a few bad apples. I was trying to implicate if there was some form of "filtering" for media, and if these were controlled better than what they were now, perhaps we'd see a lot less of the shootings that's become commonplace.

A mother is dead and a father injured because of a gun - I thought this would lead to the thought-process of "hang on, if there was no gun involved...?"

Okay, I apologize for jumping down your throat and coming off as an ass. I just got the whole vibe of "American=violence-crazed," and that tends to irritate me. I'm one of the most pro-American pacifists out there, odd balance that is.

As for the whole riot thing, it can go either way. Some riots target authority in particular, others target whoever's nearby and unable to adequately defend themselves. Many riots include random thugs acting as wanton looters because they believe they can get away with it during the riot.

And as far as censorship goes, I've never seen any correlation between media censorship in a country against rates of violent crime, or sexual behavior, or anything honestly. The overall impact of media laws on people is dubious at best, especially in an internet-heavy age.

 

[GodotIsWaiting4U]

School shootings and other violence by youth happened before 1980 and before video games. I wish people would stop using video games a scapegoat for everything. There are real issues to deal with.

 

[Metalgamer81]

This article raises several questions.
1. What sort of judge hands down a guilty verdict then later publicly states that the defendant was not responsible for his own actions? I'm no lawyer, but didn't he basically contradict his own verdict? I reckon the case could be appealed based on that statement alone.

2. Why did Petric's parents want to prevent him from playing Halo 3 to begin with? Did he have a history of behavior that caused them to believe that he was not capable of separating fantasy and reality? Did he have a history of violent behavior? Did he have a psychological or neurological disorder that had gone undiagnosed?

3. Were Petric's parents the overbearing, controlling sort? If that were the case, they would be more responsible for his behavior than a game. After all, these parents held a handgun and a video game in the same regard - they were treated as equally dangerous. If that's so, who's to say his parents weren't screwing him up his whole life? How do we know for sure that the game was his real motivation for killing his parents rather than years of psychological abuse?

It's easy to blame video games when parents don't want to take responsibility for their own children, or when as a society we turn a blind eye to a person who has a legitimate problem.

I have been playing all sorts of video games since I was about 5 or 6. I am now 28 years old. I think I was about 13 when mainstream games began becoming more violent, so I have been exposed to this sort of game for 15 years. I have always been able to tell the fantasy from reality. My parents never felt the need to monitor what games I've played because they knew I could turn the game off and know the difference between what is real and what is in the game. In a case like Petric's, I would guess that either he had a disorder already that prevented him from telling the difference between the two or that his parents had abused him his entire life. Maybe both. In either case, video games are not responsible for his actions. There is definitely more going on here than what the press was willing to tell.

 

[Sjakie]

If you get addicted to something, be it drugs, videogames, alcohol or sex. There probably was something wrong with your life before you did, because all those things can be used as escapism from problems.
But when that addiction gets frustrated (by the parents in this case) and you lash out as violently as he did. Safe to say he had his brain wired the wrong way allready and the parents should have done something about it long before. It's their kid, they should have picked up on that and sought help.

I blame the parents for failling their son, but the kid pulled the trigger and he should be in jail and get some sort of treatment

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I find it odd that his father requested leniency despite being shot by him. Just doesn't make sense to me.

Retarded parents. We cannot escape them.

This is a product of the infamous stupid virus contaminating the gene pool. This "Halo Killer" was clearly unstable from the beginning.

 

[SilentCom]

Wow, sounds like a bad kid trying to pin blame on everything other than himself. I mean, would it be any different if his parents didn't let him play Plants versus Zombies? I don't think so.

 

[Mrmac23]

I find it odd that his father requested leniency despite being shot by him. Just doesn't make sense to me.

Retarded parents. We cannot escape them.

This is a product of the infamous stupid virus contaminating the gene pool. This "Halo Killer" was clearly unstable from the beginning.

Wow, sounds like a bad kid trying to pin blame on everything other than himself. I mean, would it be any different if his parents didn't let him play Plants versus Zombies? I don't think so.

Erm, don't mean to interrupt but this happened in 2009. Cid just gave the thread a year-old necrobump.