The original question was
"...How much effect does the violent and gruesome video games that young kids play factor in to these shooting en mass type killings?...
My initial reply was that I am unaware of any studies that attempt to correlate the two. I just threw the infamous name 'murder inc.' rap label out there as an example of what I would refer to as odd. I also believe a lot of media desensitizes people in some ways...the more exposure to certain subjects in "various games, music etc", the more desensitized. As far as being predisposed to certain behaviours..., we can only assume that the desensitization only encourages those who have the propensity. But that's just my opinion.
I tend to lean towards the biblical perspective rather than sociological. The war between evil and good.
The rise of more realistic violent first-person shooter video games correlated fairly nicely with a rapid DROP in murder and violent crimes (overall).
If you’re going to realistically point at a cause for mass shootings, it’s the media covereage of previous events; obviously not possible given the 1st Amendment, but I’m quite serious in saying that if a complete news blackout were imposed on these mass shootings they’d pretty much stop in 2-3 years.
Both Liberty Rocks and your comments K4 have been very cogent and excellent points of view. Who knows the answers for sure why kids do these shootings... perhaps that evil dark influences are the driving forces. Notice how these shooters end up killing themselves too....it’s similar to suicide bombers on a mission and they serve their purpose killing others and themselves dying as their endgame in their twisted pursuit of purpose.