This, of course, is news to no one who has played first person shooter video games within the last few years. The Call of Duty series has been on a slow decline ever since it reached the pinnacle of “shoot that enemy soldier in the face” gameplay with Modern Warfare, as Activision slowly bleeds the franchise for every shiny penny that it’s worth. There are other games stepping in to take its place, but as we watch this franchise launch itself up the water ski ramp and over the fenced-in shark, it’s good to note that video games have helped save the gun culture . . .
As Robert likes to say, culture eats strategy for lunch. The more people owning guns and liking guns, the less power gun control advocates will have. And when it comes to getting new shooters into their local stores to pick up a modern rifle or two, video games like Call of Duty have done more to bolster the ranks of the gun culture than anything else in recent years.
According to some latest reports, less than 7% of Americans hunt. That’s down from the damn near 100% figure of the 1770s, but not unexpected given the ease with which one can pick up nice and neat packages of meat from the grocery store. Hunting used to be the default way in which someone would be introduced into the gun culture, but with the decline of hunting things were looking bleak. The decline of hunting was one of the first steps in the gun control agendas of England and Australia, and their last push for civilian disarmament came at a time when there was no activity there to keep the culture alive. As a result, since hunting was no longer something to protect and no one was there to speak up for gun rights, the forces of gun control succeeded.
Here in the United States, a similar situation was forming. Hunting was on the decline, and you could see the plan formulating in the halls of gun control advocates. Demonize the act of hunters, demonize the gun, and then confiscate them all. But since the Call of Duty franchise started up, there has been a new breed of gun owner to contend with — the tactical, self defense minded gun rights advocate.
It’s a completely new breed, and the gun control folks still haven’t figured out how to counter their appearance. The Brady Campaign is trying to paint concealed carry holders as heartless killers who are just itching to pull the trigger, but their numbers are so laughable that even they have a hard time keeping a straight face. It’s hard to argue against a rape victim who is asking to defend herself, against a mother who used an AR-15 to protect her kids, or against someone who wants protection against thugs playing the “knockout game.” In that sense, you could say that Call of Duty saved gun rights.
But now it sucks and as with all things, its time may have passed. But it brought the first person shooter genre to a new height and may have saved one of our fundamental rights from the chopping block of the Democratic party.
I love the history of the 1911, I love the fact it pretty much is the foundation of all modern automatic pistols.
With that said we have learned plenty since 1911 time to move on.
Its Heavy, its big its design flaws require you to spend more money to make it a good pistol.
Its a rich mans range queen and is beautiful to show off when its custom.
The STI platform fixes just about all the flaws in the 1911 but costs 2 grand for a pistol.
For PD any modern polymer framed pistol will be more reliable, more affordable and more compact.
glock ,ruger SR, Springfield XD all run in the 500-700 range and all will still perform just fine after 10,000 rounds
Wasn’t Tipper Gore trying to ban video games?
Video games, music, movies… The 80’s and 90’s were rife with rich white Democrats who wanted to nanny the nation.
Tipper is Shannon Watts’ messiah.
Hrm. I’ll take a pic of the actual ad, because there are still quite a large number of them up here in Phoenix.
Yeeeeah, Ghosts is the first CoD game since 4/MW1 that I’ve not even caved to curiosity on, and bought.
Say what you want about Black Ops 2, but I actually enjoyed the campaign. I feel that Treyarch and Infinity Ward have traded places as “the CoD dev actually making an effort.” Granted, IW of today isn’t the IW that made Modern Warfare 1 and most of 2 (which was rushed, and sucked).
It’s a familiar pattern for that team: They started off with the Medal of Honor series, making excellent games until they got leaned on by EA to crank out more and more sequels until they were all boring and stupid. They broke up and founded Infinity Ward, made the Call of Duty series until Activision started pulling the EA tactics. Now they’ve splintered off and have reformed to start a new series.
I don’t think the Battlefield series is long for this world either… the BF4 campaign is a mess, but multiplayer is still excellent. If EA continues to make Dice crank out sequels faster than they can reasonably make them though, it won’t be long until that series goes the way of CoD. BF4 was released after about two weeks of QA because EA wanted its release to compete with Ghosts, and it shows. Bug-ridden, crashes frequently… but getting better.
It’s funny to think about, though. The kids who started googling the guns they saw in games, read Tom Clancy, played Counter-Strike religiously and became annoying HK fanboys have grown up. And they’re not afraid of guns.
Yup. When you have shitty dev team who steps in to give Infinity Ward a break on the odd numbered releases, and then fire/lose all of the talent at IW after Modern Warfare 2, you’re gonna have a bad time.
At least we get Titanfall out of that mess.
Everyone knows that the Battlefield franchise is the thinking man’s first person shooter.
*ahem*
Rainbow Six.
The “Original” Rainbow 6, On PC, goin back to the good old days…
1. When attacking, R6 won’t let me drive the Rainbow MRAP through the wall and instead forces me to stack at doors and breach like some animal. Battlefield is not nearly so restricting.
2. All shooters are inferior to ARMA.
ARMA is the elite thinking game. Before that it was Operation Flashpoint-the original PC version.
Amen to #2
Who the crap cares about how bad the annual release of Medal of Warfield: Call of Modern Battleduty or whatever is doing?
The House is voting on the renewal of the Undetectable Firearms Act today. http://mad.ly/1de844?pact=18741746944&fe=1
The revised law has very severe implications. http://www.ammoland.com/2013/12/schumer-pushes-more-gun-control/#axzz2mLnxQvfD
Eh, it’s exactly what you expect for a COD game. It’s like going to Burger King.
I did enjoy the change of venue and the idea of fighting a new Latin superpower that turned the Mexican border into a frontline. I also like that California eats shit, since karma bitches!
The main point of the article is true: while I was into guns before CoD, three of the five guys I play online with regularly have bought guns since we started playing MW3.
Loving bf4 right now.
I still play cod4 from time to time when I’m bored.
And yes, I’m a converted call of duty/gun nerd.
Using WWII weapons in video games was what inspired me to get a 1911 and a Mauser as soon as I was legally allowed to.
Never did get a Garand. Maybe one day if the Russians ever start cranking out cheap steel cased milspec .30-06.
I actually quite enjoyed the campaign in CoD: Ghosts. I am also having a blast in multiplayer.
Even though my dad who is a FUDD got me into shooting at a young age, I didn’t really become interest in 2A rights/advocacy until my early 20’s, I am one of the so called “Call of Duty” gun rights people…yes I got that red dot because I first used it in an early COD…YES I really wan’t an ACOG just to have one…
Gun control types are trying to demonize “violent” video games and other “violent” forms of media is having a causation effect on the typically mentally disturbed school shooter types the problem is the games and movies and tv shows are so popular, they can’t win that battle. Watch for the antis to push for stricter Government regulation of video games and other “violent” media, this is how they will push against the new generation of gun owners such as myself.
This asshole is the reason you can’t have m-80 fireworks anymore, and next they will try to ban astro glide as being againist the Geneva convention
Thanks asshole
Video games have also created a group of young people who think they know everything about everything just because they pretended to do it on a game.
Every 13 yr old is firearms expert, special forces operator, professional football player, race car driver, or level 4 Elf Master of Zeneon…
Video games are introducing more young people to firearms, yes, but it’s also cheapening the manhood of future young men. Why actual go out and do something (play sports, shoot guns, drive cars) when you can sit at home and pretend to do it via a video game?
Video games and participation trophies are making kids soft by unjustifiably increasing self esteem and rewarding mediocrity, just my opinion.
Deduct the “suicide by cop” factor, and what’s left?
More BS from the “Boulder” Daily Camera… >:(
Looking at the graph, the number of gun deaths from non-suicides has remained steady since 2002. Also, the number of gun-related suicides was steady until the recession. However, the biggest numerical difference in that graph is the huge drop in traffic accident deaths. If I was the Department of Transportation I’d be pissed that people look at that graph and all they take away from it is how many gun suicides there have been lately. Give the DoT a little credit too.
“And then, deep into the article, we learn this: ….”
Am I the only person amazed at how, presumably in a feeble attempt to be un-biased, reporters or writers in general will bury facts or the Armed Intelligenstia viewpoint way down, deep in the article?
Maybe I’m just a cynic, but it seems awfully intentional, like the writer is thinking “Maybe by the time they’ve read the first couple of paragraphs, their ADHD will kick in and they’ll move to another article”.
It’s 100% intentional. They are pushing a narrative rather than reporting facts.
According to the data the death rate from poisoning and falls has nearly doubled. Apparently Coloradans have become much more clumsy and stupid over the last decade. How is THAT not the headline?
Also, the per-capita death rate from gun suicides is exactly the same now as it was in 2000. What a joke that article is.
“While firearms are indeed a means of protecting myself and my family, they represent something much more profound than that. They connect me to my family and my friends through distance, generational gaps, and even with those that have passed on.”
OH NO! You are obviously a member of the dreaded GUN CULTURE!!!!
Great post – your statement above really sums it up for me and my family, too.
Maybe off topic, but I think that the growth of the nanny state is to blame for the rise in suicides. The effect of the nanny state is to reduce the consequences of my actions. Thanks to welfare programs at the bottom, and “progressive” tax rates at the top, and redistribution in general, our own individual actions and choices matter less and less. It think this raises the propensity for individuals to conclude: “I really don’t matter.” I’m not saying that’s enough for an otherwise happy, healthy person to commit suicide, but I think it has this effect at the margins.
It is all in how you CHOOSE to interpret the data. The economy is in the crapper. Combine the fact that fewer people are traveling to or from work with cars are constructed to be safer and you have fewer possibilities of traffic fatalities.
The flip side of that same coin has folks faced with a bleak financial outlook turning to suicide as an unfortunate final alternative.
Would passing a law making suicide illegal stop suicides from taking place?
Thanks for sharing and welcome to the club!
With respect to waning traditions of hunting affecting the status of gun rights:
At the beginning of the year, when I would write letters to my Senators and Congresscritters (state and federal), their responses would talk about “respecting the second amendment and the tradition of hunting”.
After doing one of those GOA forms in opposition to renewing the Undetectable Firearms Act, I received a form reply from everyone’s favorite 80-year old former department store model in which she says:
“I recognize that there are many law-abiding gun owners who use guns in a safe manner for activities such as hunting, sport, or self-defense.”
I’ll have to check her past responses to see if she enumerated that last part before. But if she didn’t I think we may be seeing an impact on their strategy or arguments.
I hope my wife doesnt catch me gawking at this gun porn.
“Auction house president Earl Cornwell said “This has made my eyes bloodshot and taken years off my life, just being in control of all this ammunition and the guns. But I lust after that big commission, so I went for it in a heartbeat.””
FIFY. Hypocrite.
Been playing CoDs since the WW2 versions of the game, and yeah, it’s safe to say the series peaked with MW2 and Black Ops. GHOSTS is terrible in that never really tried to do anything new; at least the multiplayer balance in Black Ops 2 was good even if the maps sucked. Black Ops 2 multiple endings / branching paths was also better than GHOSTS weird father/brother story line as well.
It’s alright, though. At least next shooter, FPS fans have TITANFALL (played it at PAX and it’s fun) and DESTINY to look forward to.
I would suggest you actually go out and test an M1a. Even stock guns will shoot 1 inch groups and national match guns will shoot 1/2 inch 3 shot groups with ease at 100 yards
I have read where the .223 version of the Scar gets only 3 inch groups at 100 yards so the heavier recoiling .308 will probably shoot no better.
Robert, love the website!
I have to correct you though. If you are to complain about the anti’s misuse of stats, good form insists that your figures are correct. I can’t help myself: I’m a CPA.
532 deaths in a population of 5,187,582 is 0.0001 using standard division. To convert this to a percentage, you multiply this figure by 100 = 0.01%.
I know, your point was that this is still a tiny percentage!!
More proof that some with go to any lengths to attach something negative to firearms ownership. Ho hum, nothing to see here.
Wonderful to read your story and thank you for sharing it with us. My wife came here from Asia and she too enjoys the freedom here that she could not enjoy at home. She loves to go shooting and has more confidence in her ability to protect herself. I have also experienced the cultural differences you mentioned thru her eyes. We have a pretty tight group of friends made up of other married couples with Asian spouses, and we also look out for each other, so I could relate very well to your experiences.
Mw1 was good, Mw2 was great, Mw3 was ok, Ghosts is just bloody awful. I have never seen a game with so much hype bomb so very hard. Thankfully I didn’t buy this one. Hopefully this will be the end of the series, but ill hold my breath.
*cough* Duck Dynasty *cough*
Has there been a recorded swating death yet of a officer or a swatee? I know it’s easy to be a keyboard warrior or telephone toughguy but if I saw a swat team ready to enter my home I would not be putting my hands up, I would be firing my DE .50s with custom armor piercing rounds and go out guns blazing.
But this should never be.
Under no circumstance should a swat team legally be able to raid a home because of a single 911 call. So this is a case of bad policy as usual. A swat team should only legally access a home with a warrant from a judge or if there is a visible threat in that home like a guy at the upstairs bedroom window holding a ak47 out, or someone they are chasing enter a home. Since when were police able to go into a home for no reason other than word from a third party, something that isn’t even allowed in a court of law? I think this bad policy all started with 911 itself, they started allowing police to enter homes any 911 call came from under the assumption someone was in distress there. But an anonymous phone call? Come on there cannot be a law that justifies this.
The increase in suicides is likely due to the lousy economy
From the CDC I found mortality stats in Colorado 1999-2009
Suicides went up from 574 to 941 (+64%)
Suicides by firearm went up from 309 to 454 (+47%)
Suicides by other means went up from 265 to 487 (+84%)
In other words, more suicides are now committed with means other than guns. That means we should worry less about gun ownership and more about how to help people in need.
No more zombie craze? Awwwww crap! I’d better get busy and use up all those zombie pistol targets my daughter bought me for father’s day.
It’s funny how what was well known in 1689 (i.e. the English Bill of Rights that granted universal armed self defense) was forgotten a few centuries later, as though human nature has made some fundamental change, and there is no longer any need to provide for one’s own defense in extremis. The British Commonwealth was disregarded by Britain after she joined the European Common Market (our exports suddenly had to find other markets), and yet our NZ leaders blindly followed the Westminster disarmament program. You Americans should be very proud of your Founding Fathers and their wise Constitutional provisions. If only we had the same. Mind you, I wouldn’t like your level of violent crime.
Good to know.
God, that’s ugly.
This makes my blood boil…
Rep. Massie from KY was the only opposing vote:
https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/statuses/407947089163739136
the stupid party gives in to pressure by the evil party. watch schumer put a bunch a crap in their version, push it through the senate and conference committee. Then deliver that stinking pile back to the house GOP. who will have painted themselves into a no win situation corner again. .
“The measure passed on an overwhelming bipartisan vote …”
This reporter is full of bovine excrement. I listened to the VOICE VOTE. First, there were probably a handful of folks on the floor at the time. Second, there was NO WAY 2/3rds of the voice vote was for passage. Don’t believe me? Here is the CSPAN video clip….the debate starts around 1:13 and ENDS at 1:22 with the vote. 10 freaking minutes and it gets extended for another 10 YEARS !!!! RINOs…toss them ALL OUT !!!
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSessionPart1104
The ghillie suit is ridiculous on its face, agreed. But what’s more ridiculous is this; in a potentially time-critical situation, these guys took the time to put all of this crap on . . .
Newsflash, you’re cops. The bankrobber knows you’re there. You aren’t stalking him through thick underbrush or on combat patrol in Afghanistan. Is it so much to ask to just respond to the bloody call with gear that you need? More to the point, if you did in fact need to do a tactical entry, how exactly are you planning on doing that effectively with all of that crap plastered all over you? It’s just ludicrous.
I’m just going to ignore the ludicrousness (ludicrosity? ludicrociousness?) of the ghillie suit, because others have covered that well.
As a resident of Florida, let me tell you what I keyed on. The FWC on the front fender of the truck in the second photo stands for Fish & Wildlife Conservation. I’m trying to figure out what an FWC officer is doing responding to a bank robbery in the middle of suburban West Palm Beach.
So…. Jim… Have we proven our point to you? Do you have any questions? It really boils down to the singular opinion: Do you believe freedom is the greater means and way of life… or do you prefer otherwise? If you do believe it is – then tell us what you think. Discuss. Reason. Etc.
COD is indeed thankfully declining, and one of the games that I find to be far superior is the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.
OMG! The Cali Greenies must be flipping backwards into their own gaping mouths! That’s awesome. They just passed a ammo ban that has no significant effect other than to take money away from wildlife conservation and shirking probably the most efficient recycling program of a lead, or any hazardous material ever. LOL!
Airbags on bullets… problem solved.
Loose lips and all that, huh?
I don’t have Ghosts yet because I have no time lately. As it is now, I don’t have time to play COD because I spend that time cleaning or dirtying a real firearm. But I have MW1 all the way to BO2 and I absolutely love them all. Everybody gives them a hard time for following the same gameplay and script. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’ll get Ghosts when I get time to enjoy it, and enjoy it I will. I had Battlefield 3 and the controls never felt very solid. I like the COD series and will probably keep buying them for years. It’ll be THE reason if I ever get a PS4. As for introducing me to guns; meh not really. It is a good place to “learn” about certain models or mechanisms, but nothing beats a trip to the range and a patient teacher.