Originally Posted by The Wonkette

"Immature" could include children, which probably comprise of about 20 percent of a given population.

I doubt he meant children, as that's already covered under most state's laws, if not explicitly, then effectively via abuse and neglect laws. In the state we live in, its explicitly illegal for a child under a certain age (I think it's 12) too have access to a gun without a parent or guardian present.

When it comes to true rates, I think going over 1 thousandth of the population is really the reasonable measure, considering crime rates. When it comes to dangers to society, I trust people far less with cars than guns. I've worked more calls about people getting intentionally running people over than shootings. The only calls I've taken regarding officers in trouble, they were getting struck by cars (I've had 2), and violence against law enforcement has been skyrocketing in the post while general violence has been in the decline for over 20 years.

There's 60+ years of actual problems we have to resolve. This one? It's more than resolved itself without direct intervention.

Violent images in movies, TV or computer games CAN act as triggers for aggression, says new report
International panel conclude media violence can act as a trigger for aggressive thoughts and feelings
'Ratings are not substitutes for parents watching, playing, or listening to the media their children use'
By EDDIE WRENN
PUBLISHED: 06:55 EST, 29 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:25 EST, 29 August 2012

Violent TV, films and video games do increase aggression, an international panel of experts has said, as they warn parents to keep an eye on what their children are watching.
The report for the The International Society for Research on Aggression (IRSA) concluded that that evidence shows that the consumption of media violence can act as a trigger for aggressive thoughts or feelings already stored.
They claim exposure to violent images in different media, such as movies and video games, increases the relative risk of aggression - defined as intentional harm to another person verbally or physically.
The panel also warn parents that a ratings system is no substitute for the watchful eye of a parent.

Grand Theft Auto IV was a critically-acclaimed 18-rated game, but there were concerns about younger players emulating the violence they saw on-screen

The IRSA appointed the International Media Violence Commission last December.
Craig Anderson, chair of the IRSA, said: 'Basically, the commission looked at, "What does the research literature say?"
'In addition, we asked them to make some recommendations, if they chose to do so, about public policy.
'It really was kind of an open-ended charge.'

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In their report, the commission concluded that aside from being sources of imitation, violent images - such as scenes in movies, games or even pictures in comic books - act as triggers for activating aggressive thoughts and feelings already stored in memory.
If these aggressive thoughts and feelings are activated over and over again because of repeated exposure to media violence, they become chronically accessible, and therefore more likely to influence behaviour.

The commission concluded: 'One may also become more vigilant for hostility and aggression in the world, and therefore, begin to feel some ambiguous actions by others (such as being bumped in a crowded room) are deliberate acts of provocation.'
The commission concluded that the ratings are not substitutes for parents watching, playing, or listening to the media their children use, stating parents should be the ones keeping a watchful eye as rating systems often provide too little detail about media content to be helpful.
The researchers wrote: 'Parents can also set limits on screen use, and should discuss media content with their children to promote critical thinking when viewing.
'Schools may help parents by teaching students from an early age to be critical consumers of the media and that, just like food, the ‘you are what you eat' principle applies to healthy media consumption.'
While most public policy has focused on restricting children's access to violent media, the commission found that approach to have significant political and legal challenges in many countries.
For that reason, it recommends putting efforts into improving media ratings, classifications, and public education about the effects of media on children.
'Improving media ratings really has two pieces. One is that the media ratings themselves need to be done by an independent entity - meaning, not by an industry-influenced or controlled system,' said Mr Anderson.
'They need to be ratings that have some scientific validity to them.
'But the other piece is education, and if parents aren't educated - not just about what the ratings system does, but also about why it's important for them to take control of their child's media diet - then it doesn't matter how good the ratings system is, because they're going to ignore it anyway.'
The report is published in journal Aggressive Behaviour.
Mr Anderson hopes the final report will have value to child advocacy groups.
'Having such a clear statement by an unbiased, international scientific group should be very helpful to a number of child advocacy groups - such as parenting groups - in their efforts to improve the lives of children,' he said.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...#ixzz2hWtM9aRS
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Originally Posted by Eric the Green

Violent images in movies, TV or computer games CAN act as triggers for aggression, says new report
International panel conclude media violence can act as a trigger for aggressive thoughts and feelings
'Ratings are not substitutes for parents watching, playing, or listening to the media their children use'
By EDDIE WRENN
PUBLISHED: 06:55 EST, 29 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:25 EST, 29 August 2012

Violent TV, films and video games do increase aggression, an international panel of experts has said, as they warn parents to keep an eye on what their children are watching.
The report for the The International Society for Research on Aggression (IRSA) concluded that that evidence shows that the consumption of media violence can act as a trigger for aggressive thoughts or feelings already stored.
They claim exposure to violent images in different media, such as movies and video games, increases the relative risk of aggression - defined as intentional harm to another person verbally or physically.
The panel also warn parents that a ratings system is no substitute for the watchful eye of a parent.

Parents should keep R-rated films under lock and key, no matter how good they are. That applies even to cinematic masterpieces such as Chinatown. "R" means that the film is to be seen by persons under 16 only in the presence of a competent adult. PG-13 needs almost as strict treatment, even if it is Raiders of the Lost Ark even if it is sadistic Nazis who get what they deserve.

But even at that, parents need to know and control what video their kids are watching and video games that they are playing. Maybe they need to neuter the electronic entertainments so that they are not used in times in which parents are away. Basically, televisions and computers should not be accepted in the privacy of a child's bedroom. A visible play area? OK.

But I could explain very well some 'significant realities' of something like Bonnie and Clyde, a stylish treatment of two high-profile bank robbers and killers of the 1930s as part of an 'educational' objective. Bonnie and Clyde were bad people in a bad time, and that they did bad things to people who couldn't afford more harm and tragedy. It's manifestly wrong to commit robberies, shoot people, and steal cars. Finally, they end up dead in a hail of gunfire. So what if the crooks look good and drive attractive cars (not theirs, of course) -- they end up dead. Know well, also, that the 1930s (a 4T) was a time in which law enforcement was getting ahead of crooks, and fast. Today one can't get far as a criminal because one can't outrun police communications and radar.

Grand Theft Auto IV was a critically-acclaimed 18-rated game, but there were concerns about younger players emulating the violence they saw on-screen

The IRSA appointed the International Media Violence Commission last December.
Craig Anderson, chair of the IRSA, said: 'Basically, the commission looked at, "What does the research literature say?"
'In addition, we asked them to make some recommendations, if they chose to do so, about public policy.
'It really was kind of an open-ended charge.'

In their report, the commission concluded that aside from being sources of imitation, violent images - such as scenes in movies, games or even pictures in comic books - act as triggers for activating aggressive thoughts and feelings already stored in memory.
If these aggressive thoughts and feelings are activated over and over again because of repeated exposure to media violence, they become chronically accessible, and therefore more likely to influence behaviour.


The commission concluded: 'One may also become more vigilant for hostility and aggression in the world, and therefore, begin to feel some ambiguous actions by others (such as being bumped in a crowded room) are deliberate acts of provocation.'

The commission concluded that the ratings are not substitutes for parents watching, playing, or listening to the media their children use, stating parents should be the ones keeping a watchful eye as rating systems often provide too little detail about media content to be helpful.

The researchers wrote: 'Parents can also set limits on screen use, and should discuss media content with their children to promote critical thinking when viewing.

Parents, know well -- your grandparents did well enough without violent video games and violent recorded video.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...#ixzz2hWtM9aRS

Our house is more or less tv free.

Why? Because with a mentally ill schizophrenic teenager prone to violence, it was told to us years ago, she would do better without it in the house or used. The tv we have is in our bedroom which stays locked from the girls.

Neither child has video games of any sort. they have basic not apple product mp3 players, and we monitor the music.

We have I think the entire line of Milton Bradley board games though.
My kids' favorite is Mouse Trap.

The youth group at church is our life line with our teenager and her illness. They don't do media related stuff for entertainment. But good for socialization not revolving around it. Living with a schizophrenic you learn real quick what to keep under lock and key. A good number of kitchen cabinets have key locks. Our bedroom, the gun safe is combination and locked into a cabinet that is locked in our room.

It's a strange life. But....you adjust or lose it. We adjusted.

A victim of violence confronts the president about his use of drones.

"Yousafzai said she was honored to meet Obama and that she raised concerns with him about the administration's use of drones, saying they are "fueling terrorism.""

In other words - "Violence begets violence."


Malala Yousafzai meets with the Obamas in the Oval Office

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ffice/?hpid=z3

But then, I guess violence over there ​is different, huh?

Originally Posted by Deb C

A victim of violence confronts the president about his use of drones.

"Yousafzai said she was honored to meet Obama and that she raised concerns with him about the administration's use of drones, saying they are "fueling terrorism.""

In other words - "Violence begets violence."


Malala Yousafzai meets with the Obamas in the Oval Office

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ffice/?hpid=z3

But then, I guess violence over there ​is different, huh?

You raise the key point about spirals of violence. There seems to be a belief that if we are attacked, a revenge attack to deter further violence is the appropriate and necessary response. On the other hand, if they are attacked, they will see the folly of their action and back down.

I guess the question becomes whether we will run out of money to spend on drones and missiles before they run out of angry fanatics.

Don't worry, drones and missiles are fairly cheap, compared to the alternatives. We're already economizing.

http://www.providencejournal.com/bre...e-island-1.ece

$5 million. Right to bear arms, right to pay for the consequences.

Data from the Children’s Safety Network and Urban Institute, both based in Washington, D.C., provide staggering numbers about gun violence. The cost of each fatal shooting, using 2010 figures, is $5,094,980, with more than $3 million of that charged to changes in “quality of life,” $1.5 million being the amount of income each victim would have earned during his or her life. Medical care and criminal justice costs were placed at some $423,962. Each shooting victim who survives costs an average of $432,813, with the biggest component once again being lost “quality of life,” at $296,498, according to the organizations.
Dr. Ted R. Miller, who compiled the data, said the pain and suffering includes the “lost quality of life” for the dead shooting victim as well as the family and friends of the deceased. A wounded victim’s quality of life also suffers and the survivor must deal with “functional and psychological impairments,” he said.
Miller said the price of being shot and killed, or shot and wounded has increased by about 4 percent from 2010 to 2012 , meaning a fatal shooting has climbed $203,799, while the price of a shooting survivor has inched up $17,313.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-g...184,full.story

"Do you think I should be shot?" Morrill asked.
"Did I say that?" Kessler said.
"You said libtards should be shot. … You have a video called Shoot Libtards from a Tree."
"Let me see it."
"It's on YouTube," Morrill answered.
Kessler challenged him to produce the video.
The point Morrill said he was trying to underscore was that the videos Kessler made alienate half the population he's sworn to protect. How can anyone feel safe in the small Schuylkill County coal town if it's policed by a biased chief, he asked.
He also questioned Kessler on an assertion at his termination hearing that the chief doesn't enforce DUI laws.
Kessler responded with a question: "Did you go to the police academy?"
"No," Morrill answered. "But I work with law enforcement officers all the time."
"If your best friend's a cop, I really don't care about that," Kessler said. "I'm a trained police officer. Are you trained in law enforcement?"
"I know what the Constitution says," Morrill answered.
"The first thing in the police academy that you're taught is officer's discretion," Kessler said. "We don't even have to respond to your home."
"You will not enforce any laws you consider unconstitutional?" Morrill asked.
"Correct," Kessler said, explaining he would arrest someone for driving drunk who got into an accident but may just take the keys of someone who had a couple of drinks after work and tried to drive home.
The exchange was moderated by show host Tony Iannelli, president and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. He scheduled the meeting to come one week after Kessler's termination hearing began.
Kessler said he decided to do the interview because "people need to wake up and know what's going on in their country."
Speaking softly, he told Iannelli he did the YouTube videos "for shock value, bringing attention that there's much more going on in our country than people realize."
He argued that political leadership — by both Democrats and Republicans — is ineffective, and he touted the right to own a gun.
Without his guns and curses, Kessler questioned who would listen. Now, his message has gone viral and news media across the country have reported on it.
But Morill said that's not the issue.
"What we're talking about here is not swearing," Morrill said. "This is not about being able to shoot guns or have videos. This is about whether or not somebody has the temperament of a police officer."
Kessler was suspended in July over the YouTube videos. In one video, Kessler profanely complains about the United Nations and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. In another, Kessler wears his badge and begins what appears to be a tutorial on how to shoot a gun, using a picture of a clown he calls House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as the target. The video that created the media firestorm was an "apology" for the Kerry video. It was shot on an old strip mine road, away from homes, where Kessler said he goes for target practice.
His suspension stems not from the content of the videos but over his use of borough weapons in them. Council moved to fire him over on-duty performance.
Dozens of critics and supporters, some armed, turned out to the termination hearing, which became a media spectacle. One of his supporters dropped a loaded gun during the hearing, causing officials to abruptly suspend it until it could resume in the more secure Schuylkill County Courthouse. No date has been set.


Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-gilberton-pa-police-chief-business-matters-20131017,0,3798643.story#ixzz2i5Ys2hkQ
Follow us: @mcall on Twitter | mcall.lv on Facebook

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...oter-dead?lite

A student apparently opened fire at a Nevada middle school Monday, killing a teacher and wounding two boys, authorities said. The shooter was left dead.
A hospital said that the two boys arrived in critical condition. One was later upgraded to fair.
Kyle Nucum, a student, told the Reno Gazette-Journal newspaper that he heard “a pop, like a loud pop, and everybody was screaming.” He said the shooter was wearing a Sparks Middle School uniform, and shot the teacher after the teacher told him to put the gun down.

Gun shows have the most honest people associated with them:

http://mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2013/10/21/former_ocoee_commiss.html

ORLANDO -- Former Ocoee Commissioner Scott Anderson has been arrested after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said he sold phony bulletproof vests.
Anderson was one of three men arrested Monday after a two-month-long FDLE investigation. The other two were identified as Scott Williams and Arami Rodriguez.

According to investigators, the group made fake bulletproof vests and sold them at gun shows in around Florida.

Anderson represented Ocoee's District 1 as a city commissioner for 12 years.

Originally Posted by Bad Dog

http://www.providencejournal.com/bre...e-island-1.ece

$5 million. Right to bear arms, right to pay for the consequences.

Data from the Children’s Safety Network and Urban Institute, both based in Washington, D.C., provide staggering numbers about gun violence. The cost of each fatal shooting, using 2010 figures, is $5,094,980, with more than $3 million of that charged to changes in “quality of life,” $1.5 million being the amount of income each victim would have earned during his or her life. Medical care and criminal justice costs were placed at some $423,962. Each shooting victim who survives costs an average of $432,813, with the biggest component once again being lost “quality of life,” at $296,498, according to the organizations.
Dr. Ted R. Miller, who compiled the data, said the pain and suffering includes the “lost quality of life” for the dead shooting victim as well as the family and friends of the deceased. A wounded victim’s quality of life also suffers and the survivor must deal with “functional and psychological impairments,” he said.
Miller said the price of being shot and killed, or shot and wounded has increased by about 4 percent from 2010 to 2012 , meaning a fatal shooting has climbed $203,799, while the price of a shooting survivor has inched up $17,313.

If people had to insure firearms as they must insure cars, gun ownership would become unaffordable to many people.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

If people had to insure firearms as they must insure cars, gun ownership would become unaffordable to many people.

I have never said that.

Explain this one to your insurance agent, and the DA:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...tters-gun?lite

A teenage babysitter was arrested Tuesday and charged in the death of a 5-year-old Texas boy who accidentally shot himself with the babysitter's gun while she was napping, authorities said.
Melissa Ann Ringhardt, 19, of Vidor was being held in the Orange County Jail on a felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child, the county sheriff's office said in a statement. She could face a sentence of six months to two years if convicted.

---

The sheriff's office said Ringhardt, who lives with the boy's family, left her semiautomatic .40-caliber handgun on a coffee table when she went into a bedroom to take a nap Monday afternoon. When she woke up, she couldn't immediately find the boy, identified as John Read, according to the sheriff's office. She eventually discovered him dead in the living room, it said.
Because the home has no telephone, Ringhardt carried John and a 6-month-old child, whom she was also watching and who wasn't identified, about a block to his grandparents' home to call 911, the sheriff's office said. John was declared dead there when emergency crews arrived.

The 6-month-old child wasn't injured.
According to the sheriff's office, Ringhardt told investigators she had the gun because she was frightened of being home alone.
"People have the right to bear arms, and with that comes great responsibility," Orange County sheriff's Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson told KFDM-TV of Beaumont. "If someone, somehow, puts a firearm in a place where a child is able to get that weapon, you've committed an offense."
"Sometimes, it takes something like this — as tragic as it is — for people to reflect on those things, and these are the opportunities you take ... to say, 'Look, what could we have done?'" Hodgkinson said.

Oh. Beaumont TX. Big shock.

Another win for responsible gun owners.

Public employees, especially those NEA union teachers, make too much money:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...r-heroism?lite

Originally Posted by Bad Dog

Explain this one to your insurance agent, and the DA:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...tters-gun?lite

A teenage babysitter was arrested Tuesday and charged in the death of a 5-year-old Texas boy who accidentally shot himself with the babysitter's gun while she was napping, authorities said.
Melissa Ann Ringhardt, 19, of Vidor was being held in the Orange County Jail on a felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child, the county sheriff's office said in a statement. She could face a sentence of six months to two years if convicted.

---

The sheriff's office said Ringhardt, who lives with the boy's family, left her semiautomatic .40-caliber handgun on a coffee table when she went into a bedroom to take a nap Monday afternoon. When she woke up, she couldn't immediately find the boy, identified as John Read, according to the sheriff's office. She eventually discovered him dead in the living room, it said.
Because the home has no telephone, Ringhardt carried John and a 6-month-old child, whom she was also watching and who wasn't identified, about a block to his grandparents' home to call 911, the sheriff's office said. John was declared dead there when emergency crews arrived.

The 6-month-old child wasn't injured.
According to the sheriff's office, Ringhardt told investigators she had the gun because she was frightened of being home alone.
"People have the right to bear arms, and with that comes great responsibility," Orange County sheriff's Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson told KFDM-TV of Beaumont. "If someone, somehow, puts a firearm in a place where a child is able to get that weapon, you've committed an offense."
"Sometimes, it takes something like this — as tragic as it is — for people to reflect on those things, and these are the opportunities you take ... to say, 'Look, what could we have done?'" Hodgkinson said.

I noticed that you have not posted this article yet. Why not?

Originally Posted by Copperfield

I noticed that you have not posted this article yet. Why not?

Hadn't seen it. Been working. Nice catch- kid with near realistic rifle points it at cop- disaster/tragedy ensues. Never would have predicted it. Kids brought up in a society that is nuts for guns pay the price. Guns don't kill kids- cops kill kids! Regrettably, the cop rolled under 20 on a D100, the default score for a generic cop NPC (stats differ, but all are under 50% for first round-kills) Superior parenting at work as well.

Originally Posted by Bad Dog

Hadn't seen it. Been working. Nice catch- kid with near realistic rifle points it at cop- disaster/tragedy ensues. Never would have predicted it. Kids brought up in a society that is nuts for guns pay the price. Guns don't kill kids- cops kill kids! Regrettably, the cop rolled under 20 on a D100, the default score for a generic cop NPC (stats differ, but all are under 50% for first round-kills) Superior parenting at work as well.

You missed this one too.

You know and I know that "consumer product safety" is not driving the gun-grabbing agenda - any more than the supposed threat of Middle Eastern terrorists coming across the Mexican border is driving the anti-immigration agenda.

Originally Posted by Bad Dog

Public employees, especially those NEA union teachers, make too much money:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...r-heroism?lite

Heroism from unlikely places: such is 4T at its noblest.

Originally Posted by Bad Dog

Hadn't seen it. Been working. Nice catch- kid with near realistic rifle points it at cop- disaster/tragedy ensues. Never would have predicted it. Kids brought up in a society that is nuts for guns pay the price. Guns don't kill kids- cops kill kids! Regrettably, the cop rolled under 20 on a D100, the default score for a generic cop NPC (stats differ, but all are under 50% for first round-kills) Superior parenting at work as well.

Pull a gun on a cop -- and die.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

Pull a gun on a cop -- and die.

He didn't "pull a gun on a cop", he (a 13 year old boy) was carrying a toy and wasn't hurting anyone.

Originally Posted by Copperfield

You missed this one too.

and you missed this one:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/justic...html?hpt=hp_t2


A Washington state middle school boy was arrested Wednesday and faces an attempted murder charge, after he brought 400 rounds of ammunition, multiple knives and a handgun to his school, police said. The 11-year-old was booked into a juvenile detention facility after the incident that caused the lockdown of Frontier Middle School, Vancouver Police said.

Not a fake gun, this time.

My congrats to the home defender.