{"id":12250,"date":"2019-10-15T19:16:23","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T19:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=12250"},"modified":"2019-10-15T19:16:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T19:16:24","slug":"game-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=12250","title":{"rendered":"Game Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:5521,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.pewinternet.org\\\/topics\\\/online-gaming&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.pewresearch.org\\\/internet\\\/topics\\\/online-gaming&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5522,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/amzn.to\\\/2plY8rS&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/Red-Dead-Redemption-2-Xbox-One\\\/dp\\\/B01M275W1G\\\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=red+dead+redemption+2&amp;qid=1571166251&amp;sr=8-1&amp;th=1&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=nolaonguanmo-20&amp;linkId=092fb56ca08d3d84f253b437e50db3cf&amp;language=en_US&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5523,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.nssf.org\\\/ranges\\\/first-shots-home&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.nssf.org\\\/ranges\\\/first-shots-home\\\/&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:5086,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.saf.org&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=UA-147431441-1\"><\/script>\n<script>\n  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];\n  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}\n  gtag('js', new Date());\n\n  gtag('config', 'UA-147431441-1');\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n\n<p> Certain truths can be stated without reservation.\u00a0 FACT ONE: American youth love video games.\u00a0 And,  FACT TWO: Guns have been a large part of our history and culture for  hundreds of years.\u00a0 Here\u2019s another: Without the constant renewal and  growth of new participants, the gun culture and shooting sports will wither and die, and the Second Amendment will be closely behind it.\u00a0 The  Second Amendment would become a quaint reminder of a distant past,  then, gradually, incrementally, be reduced to an abstract symbolic concept. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> If one were to set out to address the challenge of finding new participants for the shooting  sports, where would you look and who would you look for?\u00a0 Well, it would be nice to target young people, heaven knows the more \u201cmature\u201d\u00a0crowd  is already well represented!\u00a0 It would also make sense to target people  who already have demonstrated some interest in and knowledge of guns. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This  ideal demographic of future competitive shooters, firearms enthusiasts, and Second Amendment activists exists within the world of video  gaming.\u00a0 We know from anecdotal evidence that the cross-pollination  opportunity between the video gaming culture and the \u201creal\u201d gun culture  is significant.\u00a0 In fact, even the briefest look at the gaming industry  reveals the staggering scale of the numbers involved.\u00a0 Gaming is huge!\u00a0 According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewinternet.org\/topics\/online-gaming\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pew Internet &amp; American Life Project<\/a>, 97% of all  teenagers play video games; and 81% of 18-to-29 year olds are gaming,  and a large percentage of those games are based on shooting and gun  themes.\u00a0 For example, the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2plY8rS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8216;<\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2plY8rS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Dead Redemption Part 2 Cowboy&#8217;<\/a><\/em> action game grossed over $725 million its opening weekend and has sold over 25 million copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/RDR-Pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12253\" width=\"547\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/RDR-Pic.jpg 716w, https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/RDR-Pic-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In  fact, my own introduction into the world of firearms was the indirect  result of video games.\u00a0 My sons&#8217; interest in guns was piqued after playing video games, which lead to an interest in paintball and airsoft  guns.\u00a0 Realizing quickly if I had declared real guns forbidden it would  have only strengthened the attraction, I embarked on a mission to learn all I could about safe gun use in order to educate my sons and keep them safe.\u00a0 I reached out to a knowledgeable gun-owning friend, who gave us a brief introduction to guns and recommended a safety training class. \u00a0  To my great joy,\u00a0 guns and the shooting sports have become a central part of our lives ever since, providing countless hours of enjoyment and family bonding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Of course, only a small  percentage of gamers will make the leap from shooting guns in video games to shooting guns in real life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> But a small percentage of a big number is still a big number.\u00a0 There are barriers to entry that must be overcome. Not everyone has a gun-owning friend (that they know of) to whom they can reach out.\u00a0 With this in mind, the National Shooting  Sports Foundation (NSSF), promotes the excellent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\/ranges\/first-shots-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;First Shots Program&#8221;<\/a> offered at many local shooting ranges. The program is geared towards  safely introducing first-time shooters to the fun of shooting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andrew  Gottlieb, Director of Outreach for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Second Amendment Foundation<\/a>, has  begun some excellent work on the issue of gaming and how it relates to  the Second Amendment.\u00a0 A key point he made in his presentation at the  34th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Phoenix related to the  inevitable blame-game and finger-pointing that occurs whenever a mass  murder event occurs and it\u2019s subsequently revealed the &#8220;murderer was a  video game player\u201d. \u00a0 Mr. Gottlieb said plainly \u201cThe gun people need to  stop pointing to the video games as the cause,\u00a0 because that just makes  the gamers point back to the gun as the cause when both parties should  be pointing to the acts of the individual perpetrator!&#8221;\u00a0 I must admit, I  have been tempted myself to point to games as a causal factor; however,  considering how pervasive gaming actually is you might as well point to  shoes as the cause of mass murder because as far as I know most  murderers aren\u2019t barefoot!\u00a0 Alas, there are not simple answers to  complex problems. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As  firearms enthusiasts, gun owners and Second Amendment advocates, let\u2019s  actively look for ways to reach out to the people who are already  interested in what we do.\u00a0 Get out there and find a gamer to take shooting, it\u2019ll be a blast!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Certain truths can be stated without reservation.\u00a0 FACT ONE: American youth love video games.\u00a0 And, FACT TWO: Guns have&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4861,4247,4582,3627],"class_list":["post-12250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrew-gottlieb","tag-gaming","tag-gun-rights-policy-conference","tag-video-game-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12254,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250\/revisions\/12254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}