The bloodiest video games are back in the spotlight after the National Rifle Association's chief lobbyist on Friday stoked a long-smoldering debate about whether violent games are harmful to society.
Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the NRA, partially faulted video games for the Dec. 14 rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary, saying the games are a part of a "callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people."
Also Friday, the Associated Press reported that children in Newtown, Conn., the scene of the mass carnage that sparked the nationwide debate over gun violence, pledged to throw away video games containing violent scenes in a movement they called "Played Out: Choose Not to Play."
Gamers say they're being cast as scapegoats and note that millions of people play video games daily without incident. But the discussion has flared, with two U.S. senators calling for further study of the games and White House adviser David Axelrod tweeting this past week: "In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot 'em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn't we also quit marketing murder as a game?"
Authorities have not said that Connecticut shooter Adam Lanza, who killed his mother and then entered the school and killed 20 children and six adults, played video games. Still, the multi-billion-dollar gaming industry has been on guard since the rampage, issuing occasional cautious statements.
Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, which represents game enthusiasts, said in a statement that it was too early to make assumptions on the role of violent media in the killings, noting the "lack of evidence to support a causal link."
David Walsh, who spearheaded the now-defunct Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family, which championed game-rating efforts, said he's not optimistic that the violent games will fall out of favor.
"A lot of the things we asked the industry to do, they have done, and yet the games continue to be violent, and no one is going to be able to legislate the content," he said.