If the effect was even 0.01 with growth by 10000% we would have noticed.
(I'm not trying to say that violent video games cause real life violence, but the numbers you describe don't offer any type of compelling evidence without other data being considered as well. )
Have shootings not gone up? Has no one noticed it.
It’s counter intuitive to think that games that simulate practicing shooting people would have zero influence on people this inclined.
I tend to agree and I can confirm with anecdotal evidence from all around real life. Take traffic for example where road rage is always directed at other people no matter how small their trespass, while far more damaging incidents where no other person was involved are met with some swear words (getting 2 flat tires at once, seeing a tree fall on your car, etc.).
It's other people and their perceived trespasses that cause the buildup of frustration and violence.
The former is probably obvious so here's some points for the latter:
Public debate centers around "assault weapons" high powered rifles and mass shootings.
- 2/3rds of gun deaths are suicides (usually with handguns)
- The vast majority of gun homicides are with handguns
- The broadest definition of "mass shooting" I could find was 4 or more victims (excluding the shooter). That puts mass shooting deaths on par with accidental gun deaths; about 1% of total gun deaths and single-digit percentage of gun homicides.
Now, I'm not saying ending mass shootings is a bad thing, but it's as if everyone worried about traffic fatalities in the US was informed by watching "The Fast and the Furious" and wanted to ban forced-induction sports cars and was super worried about deaths from underground road races.
