[Glenn E. Meyer]

When I was a kid, I carried a very realistic 1911 plastic gun and a Thompson SMG - we ran around the streets and pointed them at each other. Didn't become a killer.

Grossman makes the point that toy guns and computer games can teach aggression and prime violence. That has some validity from the literature. However, we also know from the same literature - that more detailed knowledge of firearms and usages decreases aggressive ideation.

The increase in violence can be looked at in two parts - the majority of gun crimes in the USA are due to the drug wars, poverty and broken family situations.

The recent supposed trend of rampage killings has most killers having some kind of preexisting mental illness. It could be the case that the media culture of violence then channels them and gives them methodologies to employ.

However, I don't think the overall violence level is due to gun games. In fact, violent crimes are dropping, gun accidents are down.