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Republican politicians blame ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘John Wick’ for gun violence

Gabe Gurwin
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Repairing the Fabric of America

Parkland, Florida mass shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz — who currently faces 17 counts of murder for his alleged shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — was able legally to purchase the semi-automatic rifle he used to carry out the attack without a waiting period or permit. The AR-15 he used is widely available in the United States and exists for the sole purpose of killing human beings, but according to some Republican politicians, it’s violent video games that should be blamed for mass shootings in America rather than gun laws.

Florida congressman Brian Mast spoke with NPR regarding the attack on Friday morning. Mast downplayed the effect that stricter gun laws would have had on stopping the mass shooting, instead blaming entertainment for its alleged role in encouraging such an act.

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“What do we do with the biggest pusher of violence?” Mast said in the interview. “The biggest pusher of violence is, hands down, Hollywood movies [and] hands down, the video game market. When you look at Call of Duty — when you look at movies like John Wick — the societal impact of people being desensitized to killing in ways that are different than how someone on the battlefield is desensitized is troubling, and very different.”

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Mast has received donations from the National Rifle Association in the past, an organization that has been called “the most powerful special interest group in Washington.” His comments were largely echoed by Republican Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, who said the executives at game publishers, record labels, and movie studios had to “step up.” Back in October, Bevin dismissed a call for gun control, saying you can’t “regulate evil.” He said back in 2015 that he was “proudly endorsed” by the NRA.

Australia’s history offers a counterexample to Bevin’s suggestion, however. Following a 1996 change to its gun laws that banned several types of firearms and instituted a federal “buy-back” program,” homicide rates have declined by 20 percent.

In 2015, the American Psychological Association published a study finding a link between violent video games and increased aggression, but the organization didn’t find a conclusive link between violent video games and violent behavior. The accusations against video game publishers are not new, with current Attorney General Jeff Sessions pointing the finger at video games following the Columbine massacre in 1999. Nor has it always been a Republican position, with Democratic senator Joe Lieberman invoking the 1993 senate hearings that led to the creation of the ESRB over Mortal Kombat‘s violence.

According to the Associated Press, Nikolas Cruz was a member of a white supremacist paramilitary organization that wished to turn Florida into a white ethno-state. The group has attempted to distance itself from Cruz following the attack.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is official and it’s coming this November
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Activision has confirmed a November 10 release date for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III with a teaser trailer following a barrage of leaks.
The shooter, which is going to be a direct sequel to 2022's Modern Warfare II, was the subject of lots of reports and leaks prior to this announcement. Reports from Bloomberg revealed that this game was originally going to be a Modern Warfare II expansion, but it later got upgraded to a full game. Then, over the summer, more game details started to leak before some Monster Energy advertisements revealed the game's title prematurely. Activision coyly acknowledged this leak on Twitter at the time, but finally pulled the curtain back on the project today with a video titled "Modern Warfare III is Coming."
Modern Warfare III is Coming
It begins with some green soundwaves on-screen and a lot of radio chatter in the background. Then, the soundwaves turn from green to red before the perspective then pushes into them, creating a trippy red void. In there, we briefly see waveform images of a snake and Captain Price before he says, "Never bury your enemies alive" over the silhouette of a new character. This is believed to be Vladimir Makarov, the villain of the original Modern Warfare trilogy, who was teased in the post-credit scene for last year's campaign. After all of that, the title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is confirmed, as is the release date of November 10.

This date falls right in line with the late October to early November window in which Call of Duty games usually come out. It also places its launch after Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition is expected to be complete, so it looks like this may be the first Call of Duty game released under Microsoft. Other than that date, official details on the game are fairly scarce. Thankfully, we shouldn't have to wait too much longer to learn more.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III launches on November 10. 

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The Vondel map in Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the best battlegrounds in the history of the battle royale genre. It's a small-scale, densely packed map with a wide variety of points of interest (POIs) that feel distinct. Modeled after European cities, Vondel is a feat of level design as it simultaneously feels fun and functional. It's a city that you can truly imagine as a real place, with a slew of different shops to enter, a canal, and even a water taxi service that moves throughout the map.

But behind the scenes, there are countless design choices that help the flow and pacing of the map. To get a better sense of just what makes this map work so well, I spoke with Beenox Senior Level Designer Fred Wilson and Lead Artist Guillaume Alain. The duo revealed how Vondel's composition seeps into the players' subconscious, with intuitive design choices that work better than any Warzone map that's come before.
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It looks like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III will be the title of this year's Call of Duty game. Following several leaks, including an undeniable one connected to Monster Energy, a joking tweet from the official Call of Duty Twitter account appears to confirm that this is true.
Leaks suggesting that 2023's Call of Duty game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III have existed for months, but ramped up recently. On July 17, the Call of Duty Twitter account put up tweets asking if Operators, weapons, and bundles from Modern Warfare II should carry over to this year's game and teasing that a big reveal would happen alongside the unveiling of Season 5. Later that day, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier stated that this is a Sledgehammer Games-led project that started as an expansion and morphed into a full game.
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A leak like this is pretty difficult to deny, so Activision decided to play along with it. "Whew. Mondays," the official Call of Duty account tweeted. "Anyone have an energy drink they can spare?"
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