Via Game Politics, I see there is a new article refuting the proposition that there is a link between video games and school shootings. The author of the study, Christopher Ferguson, reviews the mixed results of past studies on the supposed link between game violence and actual violence, critiques the methodology of the studies finding such a link, and points to the lack of evidence tying gameplay to action in recent school shooting cases. He also graphs school violence against game sales, showing that the former has not risen with the latter.

Ferguson also attributes the blame-video-games movement to "moral panic," and compares it to past panics like those surrounding Dungeons & Dragons. Will folks like Joe Baca listen? It's unlikely. Moral panic sells even better than video games.

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