T here are few debates less worthwhile than whether violence in America is caused by guns or the media. Both are worthy of blame. If we want to make our schools and communities safer, we need to change children's attitudes towards guns and violence as well as their access to guns and to images of violence. Thirty years of research has proven that children who watch violent programs are more likely to hurt others, and to become criminals as teenagers or adults. It will take a few years to study the long-term impact of the increasingly violent and realistic computer and video games, but it is likely that they are even more dangerous, because of the interactive nature of these games.
Guns are the obvious answer.
Guns are cheap and easy to buy in America, and you don't need to be a research scholar to know that young children with guns have a power to kill large numbers of classmates and teachers that they otherwise would not have. More than 9,000 murders in the U.S. involve handguns every year, compared to 106 in Canada and 15 in Japan. Restricting access to guns would help to decrease violence, but, despite Littleton, Congress seems determined to preserve loopholes large enough for any alienated 15-year old to get through. Most who oppose gun control say that media violence is the real culprit. Films, TV programs, and video and computer games are pervasive, persuasive, and powerful teachers, and they often glorify violence and teach children, starting at a very young age, that violence is an acceptable strategy.