Officials in Venezuela are on the track to banning all violent video games and toys. There is a major violence issue over there. They even stopped releasing the annual murder figures just because they didn't want to scare people. If you have to do that, then there is most definately a problem that needs to be taken care of. The violent video games out in Venezuela right now, particularly ones like "Counter Strike", have preteens and teenagers completely absorbed. In the capital city Caracas, citizens are worried because the some of the young people who play this realistic game exchange their joysticks for actual guns. I think they have every right to be worried, as their murder rate is amazingly high.Like I said, the government stopped releasing these figures in 2005 so the people wouldn't worry as much. It has averaged out to about 152 homicides per week and around 7,900 per year. The state of Texas has around a similar population as Venezuela and there, the murder rate is 5 times less than it is there. I think something really needs to change when people are rushing home after work to avoid the first gun shots at night.Some people say that the video games arent the problem; the felons are. I think that video games should atleast be made less violent, as I think that it could give kids ideas on how to "get the job done." There have been studies done to show that there is a link between violent video games and crimes.Other countries have the same concerns, but the United States has chosen to just rate the video games, so the parents have fair warning. Personally, I think that's a really dumb idea. Most parents could really care less what their kids are playing or watching, so it doesn't do anything. I don't think getting rid of them altogether is the answer either though, because some kids use that healthily, as a way to vent instead of actually going out and killing people. Maybe it should just be less violent, I really don't have a solution to this problem, but I can tell you something has to be done.
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