Bush orders team to probe games and guns
President George W. Bush organized key members of his cabinet into a team which seeks to find facts which could shed light on in the wake of the vicious shootings at Virginia Tech which saw the death of 33 people. Among the areas being looked at is videogames.
"One could blame guns. One could blame access to the media. One could blame video games," said Utah governor Jon Huntsman, as he tried to identify some of the possible factors contributing to the growing number of violent incidents involving the youth.
The link between violence and videogames first came to prominence in the aftermath of Colorado's Columbine shootings where two students went on a rampage, killing teachers and classmates in the process. The stigma was further magnified as activist groups raised an outcry against violent games such as the Grand Theft Auto series, Thrill Kill and several other first-person shooters.
Lawyer Jack Thompson upped the ante on the "crusade" against violent games by aiding state legislators create laws that sanction violent games, filing lawsuits against game companies, and lately, by suing game blogs that are critical of his actions.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt visited Utah lately to convene with local officials regarding the issues surrounding violence among the younger demographic. Utah was one of the sites selected because a similar shooting incident involving a Bosnian immigrant occurred in Salt Lake City recently. Utah also has one of the strictest gun laws in America, which officials say could be a model for a broader policy.
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