Ferguson, C J (2008) The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship

or Moral Panic? ​Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling​ 5(1-2): 25-37.
DOI: 10.1002/jip.76

This article examines whether or not a causal relationship exists between violent video games,
and the occurrence of school shootings. Ferguson analyzes various research studies, and
categorizes them into one of two categories; experimental, which are performed research
studies, or correlational, which use statistical evidence provided by the United States’
Government. In both categories, he determines that there is little evidence to indicate that
violent video games influence people to commit mass murders. Instead, Ferguson (2008, p.30),
referring to Kutner and Olson (2008), notes that media outlets can use “video games [as]
something of a ‘straw man’ by which politicians can create the appearance of taking action
against crime.” This article presents a strong case to refute the link between mass shootings
and violent video games, providing alternate reasons for explaining why video games have
been targeted in popular media. This article will be useful in addition to further research, as it
removes a well-known, theorized causation that may skew the paper into drawing incorrect
conclusions.

Lemieux, F (2014) Effect of Gun Culture and Firearm Laws on Gun Violence and Mass
Shootings in the United States: A Multi-Level Quantitative Analysis. ​International Journal
of Criminal Justice Sciences​ 9(1): 74-93.

This paper evaluates two explanations for ongoing gun violence in the United States. Firstly,
that gun violence is primarily a cultural issue, and secondly, that gun violence occurs due to
poor regulation of gun control. Lemieux conducts a three level, cross-sectional analysis of gun
culture and legislation in both the domestic and international contexts. Firstly, Lemieux reviews
the rates of gun violence across the domestic United States. Secondly, he compounds data
from seventy-three public mass shootings occurring between 1983 to 2013. Lastly, he compares
the domestic data to rates of gun violence across twenty-five other developed nations. The
author accounts for several variables including access to education, social security and
healthcare budgets, as well as population rates. The comprehensive evaluation determines that
with less regulation on gun control, the more likely there will be higher rates of gun fatalities in
both the United States and globally. He also concludes that although cultural gun violence is not
very prominent in other developed nations, it is evident in the southern United States. This
paper will be used with other researched works as it details significant statistics and conclusions
on gun violence across the world.
Auxemery, Y (2015) Modern classifications, sociodemographic and psychopathological
characteristics, suicidal dimensions, and media contagion of mass murders.
Comprehensive Psychiatry​ (56): 149-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.09.003.

This article outlines traits of mass murderers and how they appear during incidents of mass
murder. The text reviews extensive historical classifications of mass murderers by citing other
papers on the topic. One example from Cantor, Mullen and Alpers (2000), as referenced by
Auxemery (2015, p.151), found that “social and emotional isolat[ion]… [with a] loss of social
support, and... sense of identity” can increase feelings of distress and isolation. Auxemery
(2015, p.152) concludes that this isolation “fosters… identification with a role model offered
through media; most of mass murders were directly influenced by one or more of the preceding
massacres.” However, this statement is not followed by any statistical evidence, which is a
notable shortfall of this paper. This means that further research is required in order to determine
if there is a notable correlation between the media and rates of mass murder. Earlier citations
provided by Lemieux and Ferguson do not indicate that media holds this type of influence.
However, the media can be used to divert attention from realistic explanations, such as lack of
education, onto trivial topics such as video games.

Reference List

Auxemery, Y (2015) Modern classifications, sociodemographic and psychopathological

characteristics, suicidal dimensions, and media contagion of mass murders.
Comprehensive Psychiatry​ 56: 149-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.09.003.

Cantor CH, Mullen PE, Alpers PA (2000) ​Mass homicide: the civil massacre​. Journal of the
American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 28(1): 55-63.

Ferguson, C J (2008) The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship or
Moral Panic? ​Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling​ 5(1-2): 25 - 37.
DOI: 10.1002/jip.76

Lemieux, F (2014) Effect of Gun Culture and Firearm Laws on Gun Violence and Mass
Shootings in the United States: A Multi-Level Quantitative Analysis. ​International Journal
of Criminal Justice Sciences​ 9(1): 74-93.

Kutner, L, & Olson, C (2008) ​Grand theft childhood: The surprising truth about violent video
games and what parents can do​. New York: Simon & Schuster.