Now Minecraft is getting blamed for school ‘violence’

We've been talking a lot about video-games and violence recently. Big, national papers have covered it in their typically tactful and fact filled way and we've heard counter stories from our readers, about how positive the hobby can be. Unfortunately, the former seems to be continuing to beat that poor dead horse with whatever they can find; this time, it's Minecraft.

A nine year old Florida boy got in trouble last week, for bringing “multiple” weapons to school, including: an unloaded handgun, a magazine for said gun containing six bullets, a steak knife and a small sledge hammer. Apparently this was him emulating the gameplay in Minecraft, where you carry around several tools to complete tasks and protect yourself with.

He was only found out because he told a bunch of friends what he had and several of those went on to tell a teacher who ended up calling the police. The child has now been placed in home confinement, with the judge ordering that parents keep weapons away from him.

You can't help but wonder why a judge would ever need to tell parents to keep weapons, like handguns, away from a child that hasn't even entered double digits yet. 

Here ya go kid. Have fun. Source: SoloXis

The gun and other tools came from the child's father's house. While the firing pin had been removed, you have to question the judgement and vigilance of his parenting when the child not only knew where the gun and ammunition was, but that they were both so easily obtainable without the father's knowledge.

Looking to shift the focus from himself to a scapegoat, “The boy's father said he was playing a character he learned from the video game Minecraft,” WFTV reports (via Kotaku). How is the kid's dad going to deal with this? He's throwing the game in the bin.

KitGuru Says: Sure. Because that's better than talking to your kid about the game and the things he sees in it, or playing it with him so you can explain about weaponry and the real world.

As usual with these dumb stories where everyone points their fingers at video games to distract from their own culpability, lets counter it with our own positive press for video games. If you have a story about gaming you'd like to share that you feel shows the benefits of gaming, get in touch at [email protected]. 

And yes, that's me suffering through spam to bring pro-gaming stories to your doorstep. I'm committed. How about you?

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