April 30, 2008 -
A representative of Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police has criticized Grand Theft Auto IV. Off. Eugene Blagmond spoke to local TV station NBC-10 about GTA IV's in-game confrontations with virtual cops:
The glorification of killing of any police officer is just wrong. I mean, it desensitizes people to the real mayhem that's going on out on the streets, and we already have a real problem with people not valuing human life.
People don't seem to have a problem turning guns on cops, and this game -- I know it's just a game, but people sometimes have trouble separating reality from fantasy.
Not every police officer would seem to agree with Blagmond's assessment, however. NBC-10's Jamison Uhler reports that while his crew was filming at a local GameStop, four different Philadelphia police officers came in to purchase GTA IV in the space of an hour.
Comments
You must be new here, because you don't know the cardinal rule: Facts and statistics have no place when it comes to controversy in video-games.
Can you define "guns useful for hunting" though? Because it doesn't seem that politicians can either. For instance, yea, they banned AR-15s because, as I hinted at above, they look scary. But you can still get a Mini-14 which fires the same ammunition, at the same rate, and from pretty much the same detachable magazines. Despite being nearly identical in function and ballistics, the Mini-14 is apparently considered "useful for hunting" because it has a "traditional" wooden stock instead of an evil plastic stock or spooky pistol grip. Same goes for semi-auto AK-47 clones vs. the Mini-30 or SKS.
As far as ease of purchasing goes, Canada is probably easier than New York, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, or New Jersey. Likewise, Canadian licensing requirements (background check, references, etc..) are on par with what's needed to get a license to carry in even gun-friendly States like Pennsylvania or Alabama.
With regards to Wal-Mart, umm, they are specially licensed by the Federal government here too. And they pretty much only sell bolt-action rifles and shotguns. None that I've ever been in sell handguns, and the only semi-auto rifles I've seen in any of them are .22 caliber plinkers.
I'm not quite sure where you're getting the idea that you have no handguns there either. You're right, we have lots more here, but from looking at various sources on the internets, it appears that 2 or 3% of Canadian households own a handgun. And that crazy bastard who shot up a university in Montreal back in 2006 didn't seem to have a problem finding (and licensing) a Glock..
As for the stats, I can't find the recent UN survey data on it, but page 4 (11 of the .pdf) in this 1996 report from the Canadian DOJ said 21.84% of households there have at least one gun (48.5% for the US). The UN survey I can't find had something like 33% for the US and 24% for Canada, but the 21.8% reported in '96 by your DOJ is still a pretty good sized number.
Canada Firearms Centre also reports there are over 7 million guns in circulation there. Which is close to one gun for every 5 people. And that's just the ones they know about. Given the level of registration non-compliance, the real number is surely a bit higher.
Speaking of the raw guns-per-person numbers, it is there where you might have a point. Whereas our percentage of household is, at best, twice as high, there are more guns per owner here. The international Small Arms Survey estimates we have 90 firearms for every 100 people, vs. just ~32% for Canada. But, even then, you still come in third place.
Such is the case for their recent purchase of chips, doughnuts, beer, and filing for vacation leave XD
Based on your comments, I'd say, yes, you apparently do have difficulty telling reality from fantasy.
"...four different Philadelphia police officers came in to purchase GTA IV in the space of an hour. "
I declare this Irony Week. Yeah, I'm having that kind of week.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Just goes to show how much police are really concerned about this game. If they truly believed the GTA games glorified in killing police, no police officers would be buying it.
If I was a gamer and a police officer, heck yeah I'd be still buying that game.
As it is I'm playing Mario Kart, but I may pick it up later.
That's what I get from this guy's speech. You American always amaze me.
Oh right sure... when you're COMPLETELY INSANE, maybe.
Where I work, we actually had a few information and work session to talk about the different generations, their perceptions and their desires. In many ways we are the same (ex: Job security), but also very different (Ex: teleworking policy, hours of work). If only people actually realized this. You think we would over time as it keeps happening. The only explanation that I could give is that without remembering history, we are condemned to repeat it (Santayana).
I'm tired of saying this.
Proof, please, or go away.
Do you think they also bought adult diapers for themselves,so they don't have to take bathroom breaks?
I'm sorry, but it sounds like you're implying that it's not okay to turn guns on cops, but it is on anyone else? Why didn't you say "people don't seem to have a problem turning guns on people"? Sounds like bullshit to me.
Maybe, instead of bitching about people turning guns on.. cops.. you should bitch that people had guns in the first place.
Friendly advice from your oft-ignore friends to the North, America.
[/sarcasm]
Horay!!
Of course those were the ones that had to work the night shift and missed the midnight launch.
While I'm sure everyone can appreciate the ever-so-subtle anti-gun propaganda you expressed, you really seemed to miss the glaring error in his comment...
“People don’t seem to have a problem turning guns on cops”
What 'People'?
Define 'Problem'
This can't POSSIBLY be in the context that I'm reading it in.
IMO...
What he seems to be implying is that 'people' in the general sense, have no real qualms about using firearms to endanger police in a direct way. This is utter bullshit.
Even criminals that kill cops (be it necessity, revenge, convenience, general hatred) would have a problem with it, because the backlash and ramifications are now compounded exponentially.
Everyone will always have some degree of problem when killing someone else, unless they are sociopathic, and that would only mean their problem exists in the real world consequences, which they would understand, unless they were crazy in some other direction as well.
While there is always room to improve, I see no compelling reason for government crackdowns on video games, movies, tv shows, guns, knives or any other so-called cause of violence when the "problem" seems to be declining all on its own.
As for law enforcement officers buying the game, we've also got at least a half dozen (that I know of) who post over at GTAForums.
It's not propeganda.
I'm a proud Canadian, and here, guns are illegal. It absolutely boggles my mind that there can be a nation where they aren't illegal.
I mean, you have easily accessable guns, and then you're in awe when those guns are used? It boggles my mind.
And I think the comparison of our per-person shooting to the US proves my point.
When there's guns. people have guns.
If there's no guns, there's no guns. Easy logic, no?
I know you Americans take your second amendment (correct? I could be wrong, I know little of American law) seriously, but I don't understand why. It makes no sense to me. That's just because of the society I was grown up.
Regardless, my ultimate point - asside from that having guns = bad - is that it's ridiculous how people can blame software for murders when there is so many guns readily available.
"Get the facts first, then you can distort them as you please."
These people always skip step one.
"I’m a proud Canadian, and here, guns are illegal. It absolutely boggles my mind that there can be a nation where they aren’t illegal."
You're either lying or you drank too much of the blue Kool Aid.
Guns aren't illegal in Canada. They've only banned a few scary looking guns, and handguns have an annoying licensing system. Per capita, however, you're only a few percent behind the US in the number of households which own guns.
"And I think the comparison of our per-person shooting to the US proves my point."
Funny, I would think the above, plus the fact that shootings have gone up since your licensing system was introduced kinda makes your whole point laughable. Not to mention that they're about to scrap rifle/shotgun registration because it's been a complete and utter failure. IIRC, there's somewhere around a 70% non-compliance rate.
Okay, you're sort of right. But guns are more or less illegal here - you can only buy guns useful for hunting, and even then - rifle registration asside (I'll get to that in a second) - it is very difficult to get a gun. You can't buy them at Walmart anyway. You'd have to go to very specialized stores, after getting and showing the store you have a license.
The gun registration thing is, as you put it, an utter failure. Hey, I didn't say we were perfect. The Liberal government we had were really.. Well, they had some ridiculous ideas. That registry which cost something like 2.6 billion dollars was a complete and total failure, even on paper, nevermind execution. I'll not hide that fact.
But the thing is, we still don't have even a mediocre level of guns. Certainly no handguns, the #1 used weapon for crimes.
As for you saying, Per capita, we're only a few percent behind the US in the number of households which own guns, I flat out do not believe you. Could you post a source?
As others said, it's a generational thing. Younger officers don't really fear the game machines or the violence within. (in fact, they dig it. Their under 30 males! Explosion in entertainment = cool!) *laughs*
We also have a good number of guitar hero fans here.
(Er, for reference, I'm an office lady at a law enforcement office ^^;. And I should point out that hardly any of 'em know about rpg's though :/ .)
Guns aren't illegal in Europe either. In Demmark we have hunters too. But you need to get a hunter's license in order for you to purchase rifle for hunting.
As for the controversy over the game, people still apparently need to be reminded that this a sandbox game in which you can do (nearly) anything you want, including shooting police officers if you want. In fact, in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion you kill cops, too. They're just not named cops, but guards, and the setting is not modern but sort of middle Europe during the 1100's or maybe the 1400's or so. Yet, it is GTA IV people are talking about. The point is this: Every action in GTA IV is voluntary, (as I understand it?). You can choose to kill cops; you can choose not to kill cops or have sex with prostitues etc. That's entirely up to you...
And yes, a small percentage of the population have trouble separating reality from fantasy; they are normally called schizophrenics - and would probably have attacked some one sooner or later...
April 30th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Yeah, and cops shouldn’t be killed in movies or tv shows either because that’s just disrespectful to real cops who get killed. But feel free to mow down teachers and doctors, that’s fine.
Hey Jerk off Jon, when's the last time a teacher or a doctor put their life on the line when they went to work???? DOPE!