[citation][nom]CaedenV[/nom]Want to solve gun violence? Here is what you do:Stop the wussification of men. Nearly 100% of gun violence is done by men. Men are nothing if not rebellious, and if men feel like they are being trapped (note that it is the feeling, which may or may not be founded in reality), then we tend to do some pretty stupid and crazy things to 'free' ourselves. Men need to be allowed to be men, and men need to be respected (and respect eachother) as men. We need our own space where we can care for ourselves and our own without people looking over our shoulders all the time to make sure we are being good. Stop media that makes men out to be a bunch of useless sacks of fat or evil dangerous creatures, and promote media which shows men as being defenders of the things and people under their care.Promote 2 parent families. I work with a lot of low income families, and almost all of them are single mom families. I know that some of the kids are sadly better off with their dad gone (which really makes me angry as a father), but even a 'not so great' dad is better than no dad at all. But in the inner cities (where most gun violence occurs) we need something to help keep families together. Make child support the biggest baddest stick on the face of the planet, and if you skip a payment, or decide that you do not want to work to help support your kid, then you can spend some time in jail and counseling to rethink your priorities. On the other hand, give some sort of benefits to families that are struggling but are trying to make it work. Provide free marital counceling, give a little extra tax break, something or anything to alleviate pressure to help make things work.Promote a satisfied culture. American pop culture is all about having everything that you can see, and when you grow up and realize that you cannot have it all then it is very much a shock to the system. Promote a higher value on people and relationships rather than media and stuff and people will be more level headed.Kill rap music. seriously, I enjoy some rap from time to time, but rap music has WAY more to do with the culture surrounding gun violence (or any violence) than any video game ever has. A lot of rap promotes a world of chaos, sex slavery, and violence because the ones who control those things are viewed as little 'gods' in that culture. It is really rather sick. Again, it has nothing to do with the music, and everything to do with the culture surrounding it. And there is a place for angry music, it can be quite cathartic in fact, but for those stuck in that culture there is very little room for anything except violence.Make life possible. I am personally a pretty simple person. I have a decent older home, a wife, 2 kids, and 2 cats, 1 car that is pretty reliable, and we have been fortunate enough to be able to survive on 1 income. Over the last few years money has been tight, but everything has been more than possible to live with on my income. But now I am looking at having ~$1500 in extra taxes in 2013, plus I will be forced to purchase health insurance for the first time ever for both my wife and I, and frankly that is not in the budget. I am either going to need a major raise to afford these new expenses on my life (which the company I work for simply cannot afford), or I am going to have to find a better paying job during one of the worst job markets ever.And you know what? It really sucks! I play by the rules. I pay my taxes. I live within my means, and then 'society at large' decides one day that I am not paying enough into the system, and that I need health insurance even though I am a healthy person with very few health issues in my family history. So I either need to somehow make more money to pay for all of this, or else make less money and live off of the system... which my own pride will not allow. I am thankful for everything I have, and while severely annoyed I know it will all work out and things will be fine in the long run. But then I look at people who have things worse off than I do, and you know what? I am actually amazed that they are not whipped into a collective revolt against what is going on. Times are hard for me... but I have a job, and I honestly cannot imagine the pressure people are under who have not been able to find work the last few years.Anywho, violent video games have more to do with bad driving and traffic deaths then they do actual gun violence. In fact, it is really interesting to watch game culture. Almost every popular game on the market has some form of gun violence, and yet there are very few games on the market which idealize that violence. For just about every violent game the violence is forced upon the player via circumstances of war, crisis, or some other external impetus, and the goal of the game is to destroy the source of said violence so that peace can continue. Some of this I am sure is the game industry policing itself, but I think a lot more of it is because gamers as a whole are not violent people. Gamers, and the gaming community celebrates violence as a motion towards resolution, they do not put gun violence (or any violence) on a pedestal and make it out to be the ideal.Games are not the problem.[/citation]
1st paragraph response - I agree. Every new home should have not only a living room (for the wife) but a separate, sound proof, windowless man cave.
2nd paragraph response - I agree. They already jail and counsel for dead beat dads, but the problem is it's too easy to run and hide from responsibilities, and work under the table or illegally make money, not have a permanent address, use a pre-paid cell phone, basically living off the grid.
3rd paragraph response - I sort of agree. But the same hyper-materialism that is promoted in the media also supports may industries and many jobs that these so-called fathers could apply for instead of hiding to avoid taking care of their kids.
4th paragraph response - That is a very archaic blanket statement opinion of an entire genre of music that has many sub-genres, yet you label the entire thing as violent among other things. If you personally hate rap, that's fine, you don't have to listen to it. I hate country/western; the sound of it offends my ears, but I'm not asking for it to be eliminated from history.
5th paragraph response - I agree. Life would be much simpler if we had more people who wanted to work for what they have instead of feeling entitled to take from others who have chosen to excel in life. As long as we have a world where people have been indoctrinated with the Robin Hood mentality, we will keep getting taxed to the point that we will be forced to rely on the government.
6th paragraph response - I agree. You make a great point here. The violence is merely a mean to eliminate the evil opposition. It's too easy to blame guns for the downfall of man. I don't recall anyone calling for a ban on crowbars when Half Life debuted. No boycotting of plumbers when Mario "killed" his first goomba. Has PETA ever spoken out about cruelty to animals in RPGs where we frequently have to slay X number of animals to collect pelts? Gun control lobbyists are among the most uninformed people in this country. The same country that was liberated not by sitting down and having a friendly chat with our oppressors, begging, reasoning, and promises of gifts, but with bullets, bayonets, and (cannon) balls.