Personal Responsibility Declared Unconstitutional...

Well, pretty close. The family members of two Alabama police officers shot and killed, along with a police dispatcher, are suing the makers of Grand Theft Auto.

From an article on ABC News:

“A lawsuit claims the video game "Grand Theft Auto" led a teenager to shoot two police officers and a dispatcher to death in 2003, mirroring violent acts depicted in the popular game.”

The article goes on to state that the teen, Devon Thompson, ‘played the game repeatedly’.

I guess by that logic since I watch the show CSI repeatedly I am now qualified to become a forensic scientist.

The article quotes the lawyer for the families, Jack Thompson:

"What has happened in Alabama is that four companies participated in the training of Devin … to kill three men (.)"

The four companies being Wal-Mart Stores and Gamestop, where Devon purchased the games; Take-Two Interactive Software, the manufacturer of the games; and for some reason, Sony Computer Entertainment, the maker of the PlayStation 2.

If you haven’t read the article yet, Wal-Mart and Gamestop shouldn’t have sold Devon the games. He was 16 at the time and the games are rated M – for mature, 17 and older. However the ESRB rating guide isn’t mandatory. Stores are under no legal obligation to card people when they attempt to purchase these games.

The one who really gets me though is Sony. Sue the makers of the PS2. Of course you know that means that HP can be held liable if a pedophile uses an HP to download or create child porn. Ford is liable if someone gets drunk and plows over your mom with their Taurus. And of course Jesus is liable if someone gets hit by lightning.

Getting a bit ludicrous? So is this stupid ass law suit.

Grand Theft Auto 3 had sales of over seven million copies. Now, while I don’t follow the news as closely as I probably should, I can say with nearly 100% certainty that there were not 7 million police officers killed the year that came out.

Let’s assume that 1% of the people that played GTA 3 committed a homicide like they do in the game. That’s 70,000 homicides. According to the Department of Justice’s Uniform Crime Reporting in 2003 there were 16,503 murders.

So, even if we were to assume that every single murder in the United States in 2003 was the result of GTA that would be .23%; less that ¼ of a percent of the players of GTA 3.

Now, I am sure by now you are wondering what my point is.

My point is that it is not only logical to assume that the video game did not make this kid go off and kill these police officers, but it’s statistically proven that the game Grand Theft Auto does not make you go out and commit murder.

Devon is an evil person. There is no grey area in this people. Devon is a horrible, cold blooded murderer. No one is responsible for the deaths of those two police officers and that dispatcher except Devon. Not the makes of GTA, not Wal Mart, not Gamestop and sure as hell not Sony.

Devon made the choice to steal that car, he made the choice to disarm that police officer and he made the choice to gun down those three public servants in cold blood. It’s his responsibility and he will pay for it, hopefully with his own life.

As for him getting the game in the first place, where the fuck was his parents? Why did they let him buy the game? GTA has been in the news for YEARS. There is no way they would not know what the game is about and what kind of things happen in the game.

Even if they were hiding under some sort of rock before hand, why didn’t they see what he was playing? Were the too busy working?

It doesn’t matter. Playing a violent video game doesn’t make you violent. I’m not and I played GTA religiously when it first came out. When I bought GTA 3 I played it till my fingers bled. But I certainly didn’t kill anyone nor did I have the urge to.

It saddens me that the families of these brave police officers are trying to cash in on the death of their loved ones. It saddens me that Devon is trying to deflect the responsibility of his actions onto someone else. (That isn’t stated, but they had to find out he played GTA somehow, and apparently his parents didn’t know or care.) It saddens me even more to see the blame someone else crowd upping their assault on freedom of choice, and in turn the consequences of that choice.