The director of clinical psychology at the Mailman Center for Child Development at the University of Miami Health Dr. Alan M. Delimiter reports that childhood exposure to guns and simulated gun violence increases the probability of children behaving violently and aggressively toward others.
Seriously….?
From Miami Herald:
Exposure to guns and violence is not good for optimal child development, nor is it good for public health. Research shows that repeated and excessive exposure to aggression and gun violence through movies, TV and video games increases the probability of children behaving aggressively toward others later.
Children witness acts of gun violence, including murders, thousands of times during their development, possibly making them numb or desensitized to killing. For example, in popular video games children can act virtually as perpetrators of gun violence. They may come to accept violence as a way to resolve conflict, imitating what they see in media and identifying with violent characters.
From a public health perspective, children should be restricted from guns unless they are in highly supervised settings with adults, such as a target practice at summer camp or part of a competitive team. Increased efforts should be made to limit kids’ access to guns. High-powered semi-automatic guns should not be allowed for use by children under any circumstance.
The more we teach our children that creative problem-solving and kindness, rather than violence, is the answer, the better our society will become as a whole.
Why don’t we just raise more children in bubbles? Rainbow bubbles, made from pretty clouds, glued to flying unicorns, covered in cinnamon and sugar.