Pennsylvania State Rep. Warns Parents About School Shooter 'Game'

Pennsylvania State representative Lawrence Curry (D- Montgomery/Philadelphia County) is warning parents about " a violent video game" called School Shooter: World Tour 2012. He apparently doesn't know that it's a modification for Half-Life 2, or that it will be free to download if its creators actually ever finish it, but we won't split hairs.

"The game is modeled after the Columbine incident, or Northern Illinois or the Virginia episode. It is a real concern to me," said Curry to News station CBS 21.

"I think it's definitely in poor taste," adds Dr. Kathleen Doherty, the chair of psychology at Harrisburg Area Community College.

She tells them during the interview that she believes all the studies she has seen that link violent media to aggressive behavior in children.

"And the research shows that the correlation between violent media and violent behavior is as strong as the correlation as smoking and lung cancer," adds Dohery. "They do impact our behavior. They don't impact everybody in the same way. Just like not everybody who smokes gets lung cancer...but we know that there's a correlation."

To State Representative Curry's credit, he is calling on parents to pay closer attention to the ESRB ratings on the covers of the games they buy for their kids. Parents should at least head that advice.

Source: WHPTV CBS 6