Knee-jerk legislation has sprung up everywhere. As a nation, we feel the need to hold someone responsible - gun manufacturers, the NRA, the producers of video games, TV, and movies. We have a right to be concerned, even outraged. We examine ourselves, and we see our popular culture glamorizing terrible acts of violence. We watch countless acts of violence every day, only rarely accompanied by realistic consequences.
Most studies say no.
No long-term effects on kids or effects of any kind on adults have been illustrated. On the other hand, children raised in an environment of domestic abuse are far more likely to become abusers themselves. TV rarely glorifies domestic violence, but somehow, abuse survives. It is that much more unfortunate that the debate over the media's role in school shootings has tragically overshadowed a far more serious problem, one which affects nearly every community across the country. Children die every day from accidental shootings.