20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Stephen King
16. There Was A Time He Defended Violent Video Games
More than a few King fans were upset when he penned the Kindle Single Guns back in 2013, in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre and countless other school shootings in American history. Apparently they didn't pick up on the obvious lefty liberal leanings apparent in almost all of his work...somehow. It's also not the first time he's spoken up about political issues in the public realm, outside his fiction, however.
In 2008 he spoke out against a potential change in Massachusetts law that would restrict or ban the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. Apparently he's not all that big of a gamer himself although he does express a soft spot for arcade shooter Time Crisis and, obviously, isn't a big proponent of guns.
King's argument was simply that the law was an attempt to act as a surrogate parent to the state's children, which he described as disastrous and undemocratic, and that it made pop culture a scapegoat for violence in American culture. He also pointed out inconsistencies in the law which, for example, would allow a 17-year-old to watch a violent horror flick like Hostel but not play Grand Theft Auto.