Blaming Pop Culture for Gun Violence Is Just a Distraction
Slate's Culture Blog Dec. 21 2012 7:38 PM  Blaming Pop Culture
for Gun Violence Is Just a Distraction  Max Payne 3  This
morning, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA,
took aim at “vicious, violent video games” and “blood-soaked
slasher films” in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.,
trotting out a litany of titles and strangely dated
references. Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft AutoNatural Born
KillersKindergarten Killer, a game that never achieved any
measure of real popularity, but sports an appropriately shocking
title!*  LaPierre’s statement is rightly drawing criticism from
all corners—not just from Twitter, technology magazines, and
video game blogs, but from conservative stalwarts like
the National Review, which wrote that “blaming violence on video
games is unfair—and worse, unlikely to lead to effective
policies.”   Pointing the finger somewhere in the vague
direction of video games, Hollywood movies, and “thousands of
musi