Sun says ‘fantastic’ Call of Duty drove Adam Lanza to kill
COME “inside the dark, lonely world of maniac Adam Lanza”.
He’s the killer everyone knew.
Lanza is the killer who “lived in [a] windowless lair playing violent video games”.
Lair? Lanza had no criminal record. He had never shot anyone before he murdered so many at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Surrounded by posters of weapons, he plotted massacre
Did he? Was it a plot? Or was it more spontaneous? The guns were his mothers. All were legal.
Peter Samson has more:
SCHOOL massacre maniac Adam Lanza fuelled his violent fantasies while hidden away in a windowless bunker plastered with posters of guns and tanks.
Young man has posted of tanks and guns. And was it a bunker or a basement?
bunker: a protective embankment or dugout; especially : a fortified chamber mostly below ground often built of reinforced concrete and provided with embrasures
basement: the part of a building that is wholly or partly below ground level
Was Lanza’s room reinforced? No.
Lanza, 20, spent hours playing bloodthirsty computer games such as Call Of Duty and obsessivly [sic] studying weapons in the basement at mum Nancy’s home. It came as the first funerals of the victims were held yesterday.
Is that the same Call of Duty the Sun said Olympic gymnast Louis Smith is “flipping-fantastic at”?
Is that the game the Sun hailed as the “biggest entertainment franchise ever – making more cash than both the Harry Potter and Star Wars series”?
Wayyyyy back in November 2012, the Sun cheered:
DEDICATED Call of Duty obsessives can get their fix ahead of this month’s launch date – by heading along to a one-of-a-kind live experience… Thousands will be able to do battle through Multiplayer mode, as well as checking out the arsenal of new weapons and drone attacks on offer. And in addition to the zombie-themed diner, they’ll be able to get to grips with the updated system for choosing classes and weapons on the sessions between November 10-12.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be out November – but if you just can’t wait that long, you can sign up for a session this weekend at www.blackops2live.co.uk.
Is that the game the Sun championed as being “murderously addictive“? Amanda Cable went to check it out:
So as an Xbox virgin and mum of three, who better to try it and see how it sits with family life.
My usual battles are with ironing, shopping, hoovering, the school run, teatime, homework, kids’ bedtime and walking the dogs. But can I hold the line on the homefront while waging war on the Xbox?
Here’s my diary of duty.
THURSDAY
09.30: Thursday mornings are busy for me. I have to do shopping and walk the dogs but I go on MW3 just to see if I can improve my hit rate (zero).
I know I’m in trouble when blood splatters the screen. Adrenalin is pumping. I’m fighting for survival. I’ve chosen a derelict African landscape and can almost feel the heat. I forget I’m in my front room in south London. When I look up I find I’ve played for three hours.
18:00: I’m gripping the Xbox for dear life. I’m “going live”, playing online, for the first time. Pitted against players around the globe. Names and playing histories come up on screen. I’m up against Faded Hitman, Headshot Kingy and Suicidal Gungan. What do they think of “Amanda Mum”?
19:00: The kids have put themselves to bed and Ray is cross he can’t tear me away from the screen. But I can’t desert my mercenaries. The effects are so realistic I can go up in a helicopter and, if I fly too high, signal is lost. When I look in the mirror, I’m wild-eyed.
FRIDAY
08:00: I overslept, the kids are late for school. In the night, I crept downstairs for a 3am game with some Aussie players. I have changed my on-screen emblem to a cyanide pill and I spent 90 minutes fighting in an abandoned German mall.
11:00: I go on to the MW3 site on Facebook. Thousands of fans have posted hints, questions and opinions and many pose in combat gear. I also find I can post my fight sequences on YouTube, for millions to admire.
When my 13-year-old daughter Ruby returns home from school, she finds me on the Xbox again and rolls her eyes. I can’t understand. Can’t my family see that MW3 has bought excitement back into my life?
17.00: Being a mum and MW3 fan don’t mix. I’ve made the school run only in the nick of time and find it increasingly hard to prepare tea when I’m desperate to reload and fire. I’ve become the most trigger-happy mum in London town.
SATURDAY
12:00: Last night I woke up and imagined myself lobbing grenades. I’m convinced my reflexes are improving — this morning I dropped my breakfast bowl but caught it.
SUNDAY07:00: I rise at 6am to squeeze in a quick play before the family get up. By 7am, they come down moaning the sound of gunfire woke them.
10:00: The US President and his daughter are kidnapped, hostages in a guarded building. I break in as part of an elite squad and we blast the kidnappers. I’ve not known a rush like it since childbirth.
19:00: Every time I tear myself away from MW3, it calls me back. The special effects take my breath away. I accidently [sic] shoot a chicken, and feathers fly….
As a player, I have 1,726 kills and have died 1,997 time. But I’ve been brave, relentless — and I’m hooked.
Back to Peter Samson:
Plumber Peter Wlasuk went into the basement many times while working at the plush four-bedroom house and got a glimpse into the disturbing underground world where Lanza plotted his crimes.
Surely, broke into the bunker? And did he plot?
He said: “It was a beautiful house but he lived in the basement. I always thought that was strange. But he had a proper set up down there — computers, a bathroom, bed and desk and a TV. There were no windows.”
Boy who lives at homes with mum stays in a lot playing video games, sleeping and washing. Know the signs. Watch out!
Peter, 45, said Lanza’s elder brother had previously lived in the basement before moving out.
Ryan Lanza, for it is he, is innocent.
He added: “Adam then moved down there. The boys were fans of the military. They had posters all over the wall in the basement. They had one poster of every piece of military equipment the US ever made. It was a huge poster with every tank every made. The kids could tell you about guns they had never seen from the 40s, 50s and 60s.”
Lads take keen interest in history.
“I’m not blaming the games for what happened. But they see a picture of a historical gun and say ‘I’ve used that on Call Of Duty’.”
Call of Duty is not only a game – it’s a history lesson.
Samson ploughs on:
The weapons used by Lanza — a Glock, a Sig Sauer and a semi-automatic Bushmaster — were owned by Nancy. They are the sort of guns that feature heavily in games like Call Of Duty – in which players take on the role of soldiers and shoot dead scores of enemies…
One is a gun. The other is a drawing of a gun. Spot the difference?
With no point made, the Sun calls upon Teresa Bliss, Child and Educational Psychologist:
THERE is no doubt that what children watch affects their behaviour. It isn’t healthy for children to watch people destroying other people. Video games like Call Of Duty can lead children to become more immune to violence and death.
Any proof of that? None is offered.
Without adult mediation, kids may start to think that the violence they see on their screens is normal.
Does she show any evidence that this is the case? No.
Friends and family portrayed Adam Lanza’s mother Nancy as a paranoid person who stockpiled guns. It is unlikely that she would have been able to give him the influence he needed.
Nancy Lanza cared enough about her son to have him home schooled. She owned guns. Why does that make her a bad parent? This site says:
…neighbors and friends told reporters that his mother, Nancy Lanza, also fought to help him become more integrated into society.
So. Having rubbished the dead woman murdered by her “maniac” son, Bliss adds:
All the time he spent locked away playing the game would have been isolating.
Unless he joined others online.
When children are on their own they can’t develop social skills. Without alternative viewpoints his perspective will have been skewed.
Unless he plays online against thousands of others.
Bliss then delivers her evidence that COD kills:
CRAZED gunman Anders Breivik played Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare to improve his shooting skills in preparation of his killing rampage…
Another mass murderer who played Call Of Duty was al-Qaeda fanatic Mohammed Merah, 23…
What more proof do you need..?
Note: The Sun is owner by News Corp, owners of Imagine Games Network. IGN said shoot-’em-up video game Halo was 10/10, as was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Note 2: The “SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE FINAL REPORT” states:
Over half of the attackers demonstrated some interest in violence, through movies, video games, books, and other media (59 percent, n=24). However, there was no one common type of interest in violence indicated. Instead, the attackers’ interest in violent themes took various forms.
Explanation
• Approximately one-quarter of the attackers had exhibited an interest in violent movies (27 percent, n=11).
• Approximately one-quarter of the attackers had exhibited an interest in violent books (24 percent, n=10).
• One-eighth of the attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games (12 percent, n=5).
• The largest group of attackers exhibited an interest in violence in their own writings, such as poems, essays or journal entries (37 percent, n=15).
Finding
Most attackers had no history of prior violent or criminal behavior
Posted: 18th, December 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
