Taking an isolated video gamer to a gun range does not prove that violence in video games, on TV and in the movies does not have an affect on our society.
Of course not, I'm certain that it does have an affect. I think it particularly has an effect on young kids and early teenagers. This is why games are rated, and particularly violent games are not able to be purchased by individuals under 17 years of age. As with many things, this is an issue of poor parenting.
There is generally no question that the United States has the most violent culture among the industrialized nations. I am open to any suggestions as to why this is and what we can DO about it.
Violence sells. Think of UFC or boxing. You have 2 individuals entering a ring and trying to hurt the other person so much that they are knocked unconscious. And there are thousands of people that attend these events and purchase them at home on Pay-Per-View.
In American football, you have study after study showing that repeated hits to the head can cause brain injuries (should be obvious, but organizations fight against this). After that evidence, you have people and organizations fighting against safer regulations, changing the rules to prevent head-to-head collisions, etc.
What do we do about it? Take responsibility for yourself. If you purchase tickets to a boxing match or UFC bout, understand that you're supporting this type of violence. If you purchase a firearm, understand that you're supporting a special interest that pours millions of dollars into the political arena.
I don't understand these two statements:
I don't believe that guns cause violence.
...
I do believe that they exascerbate the situation...
Is that like saying you don't think alcohol causes people to act stupidly, but it does exacerbate the situation?
People who own guns seem to fall into two different groups. The first group owns guns for hunting or target practice. I'd call this the "normal" group. They are responsible and keep their weapons secured. The second group own guns for personal protection. They tend to rant and rave about the second amendment, threaten violence against others when gun control is discussed, and have wet dreams about intruders entering their homes.
Look at most of the other modern countries of the world. They tend to be smarter than us, healthier than us, live longer, more progressive, and are not obsessed with guns. Somehow, we have convinced ourselves that we're the greatest country in the world, and as such, that means everyone else must be doing it wrong. As a country, we are far too proud to recognize that the citizens of these other countries live better lives than we do.
I think that our approach needs to be multifacited and not have each of us target our own scape goat.
The problem is that there is far too much money lined up against any approach that limits assault rifles, high-capacity clips, etc. We can't adequately address mental health in this country (costs money, conservatives are against it) or curtail purchases of violent video games or movies by minors (regulation, conservatives are against it).
At best, we might be able to enforce background checks for gun purchasers and eliminate the gun show loop hole, but I wouldn't be surprised if conservatives fight against that as well.