As a former competitive gamer myself the thought of something like this happening at a gaming tournament seems insane! However insane is exactly what happened today in Jacksonville when a player, who I'll refuse to name, opened fire after he was eliminated from the tournament. News is still unfolding on the incident but as far as we know we are told that there were 3 fatalities, including the shooter, and 11 others injured. The event was being streamed to twitch tv, a popular video game streaming site that even myself streams to. The video below is how the events played out.
Now when this happened I could only be reminded of the past events I have been a part of and imagine the horror of losing friends in front of my eyes. This isn't the kind of thing that I would normally go out and give my opinion on, but I figured a blog would be a good spot to give my 2 cents to anyone who cared. My thoughts go out to anyone affected by this horrific event and would never want to see the lose of life be used to push an agenda in any way. However, in the media world that we live in, this will be exactly what happens. Gun control is something that becomes the main topic across the internet and news whenever something like this happens. A lot of times things like violence in pop culture also come into the conversation; including video games. Now let me point out that madden is far from a "violent" video game.
Now don't get me wrong, I've broken a controller or two; maybe even punched a wall, but I have never had the slightest trace of a thought cross my mind that would resemble the disgusting act that was committed today in Jacksonville. Now those that know me and Austin personally know that we are gun guys. I'm not saying I'm Rambo or have a massive supply of weapons, but I have a fare share. I'll also tell you that any time I went to a gaming event... I had one on me.
When I was 13 our music class went to downtown St.Louis to see a musical and when we left, across the street from our bus, we sat and watched a man break into a car and beat a helpless woman senseless. I wanted to run off the bus and help, but luckily for my young dumb self the teacher wouldn't dare let me off. I called the police and told them what I witnessed and where we were and the police told me "um alright we'll try and get someone over there." I was completely floored as a young boy that the police would show such a lack of urgency for this terrible crime. Now this isn't to bash police, but as I got older I learned that in some cities these things are happening so often that the police can't make it to every one in a split second. When I got home and told my dad about it he reminded me of why my brother and I had been taught to handle a gun since we were very young. Growing up I could tell you where at least 10 guns were around our house and how to use any one of them, but I also knew that the fires of hell would fly from my father's hands if they were ever remotely used for something other than a life threatening incident.
Now the reason I tell that story is to explain that at any of the eSports events that I attended when I was younger, 21 which was legal age to carry, I had my weapon. No one needed to know, and I'm not saying that everyone at an event like this should have one. However, I have been taught the skills and respect for a gun and feel that I have the ability to act in the event that an active shooter would ever attempt to harm any innocent person around me. This incident, like many others around the country, happened in a gun free zone. As a gun person I'll say that banning guns and more restrictions on the ability to carry will only hinder good people's ability to protect. I'll also be the first to say that I have no problem in making the gun purchasing process more extensive. I never need a gun TODAY! Steps SHOULD be taken to insure that only people with the best of intentions have the ability to purchase these weapons. However, even with all the right steps in place guns will still have the ability to find their way into the wrong hands. You can have people with clean ass records that will buy these guns and sell then off. We are also living in the most armed country in the world which at a time like today does have it's distinct pros and cons. I'm not saying that one good person with a gun at the scene of today's tragic event could have stopped it, but there wold have been a lot better chance than there was without one. My opinion with all my guns is that they are like an insurance policy. I would rather have it and never need it than need it and not have it.
This brings up my last point on the topic. ARs, assault weapons, semi-auto rifles, these are all names that many people are mislead by when they hear things about guns. The media likes to use certain types of guns and distort how a lot of people think about them based on what they are called or look like. I know a lot of people don't understand why regular people would ever have a need for weapons such as an AR-15, AK, Sub-Guns, and Carbines. The fact of the matter is when this country was founded we fought an enemy that far out numbered and out gunned us. This is something that they never wanted to see a free people have the face again. This is why the freedom for the people to own these weapons was given. Although this comment may offend some people I'll say it anyway. Hitler couldn't have killed millions armed Jewish people. People can say " Well that could never happen again..." but realize, it really wasn't that long ago that it happened. I'm sure those people never thought it could happen to them. Just as the victims today may have thought it would never happen to them.
Like I said at the beginning this isn't me wanting to go out and push my opinion on anyone which is why I decided to write this as a blog and not in a Facebook post or twitter argument. If you have any comments whether they be in agreement or disagreement, I'd be interested to hear them. One of the things that makes America a great country is that we can come together after tragedy such as this and freely talk about our opinions. Maybe if we took more time to just talk about things respectfully and not ignorantly fight about them we could find some ways to improve the world and eliminate the type of things like what happened today.
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