6-Year-Old Says Grand Theft Auto Taught Him To Drive

nandemoari writes "A six-year-old who recently stole his parents' car and drove it into a utility pole has passed the buck onto a familiar scapegoat: the video game, Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar Games' controversial Grand Theft Auto video game has been criticized by parent groups and crusaders (or in the eyes of gamers, nincompoops) like former lawyer Jack Thompson for years (Thompson once tried to link the Virginia Tech slayings to late-night Counterstrike sessions. He's since been disbarred). However, not as of yet has anyone under the age of, oh, ten, blamed the game for a car theft."

the real story

[UncleWilly]

The real story is somewhat sadder. Dad went to work, kid missed school bus, Mom was asleep (and the boy didn't want to miss breakfast & P.E. at school) so he tried to drive himself in Mom's car. Police asked him how he did it and he told them he stood next to the wheel and steered with one hand. Then when asked how he knew how to drive, he answered, Grand Theft Auto. It sounds like this came mostly from being hungry. Both parents I understand have been charged with felonys related to this.

The Real TFA

[SanityInAnarchy]

Associated Press [google.com]

Thanks for reading TRFA -- looks like you're almost right. It wasn't just GTA, either:

The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.

Ironically, on the directly linked TFA [infopackets.com]:

Here's hoping that the parents who allowed a child to see (let alone play) Grand Theft Auto will attract more attention that the award-winning video game (which anyone will admit, should only be played by adults).

Yeah, good job. Your pre-emptive, kneejerk, anti-Jack-Thompson interpretation has already drawn more attention to both Jack and GTA than the original article did.

Re:Prosecute the parents

[Nathrael]

Of course they are dangerous - but pretty much everything can be said to be dangerous, and if it isn't guns, then it is cars, and if isn't cars or guns, then it is pollution, or whatever. People will always find something to go mad about - besides, you know...guns don't kill people, people kill people. And, coming from a nation with very tight gun control laws - well, here, the people possessing guns are mainly either employed by the police (which is underfunded and -trained and thus doesnt't exactly do a good job as protecting the citizens) and wannabe criminals carry knifes and iron knuckles, and well - to me, it doesn't make much of a difference if I get stabbed or beaten to death, but I'd wish I'd at least have a chance to defend myself and finally can cross the street in certain parts of this land without having to fear some rabid criminals.

Re:Prosecute the parents

[Rick Bentley]

so guns are in fact more dangerous than hammers.

Hammers might be a bad example, but guns are a lot less dangerous than cars. In fact, we are all much more likely to be killed by a car than a gun.

Firearms are involved in 0.6% of accidental deaths nationally. Most accidental deaths involve, or are due to:
motor vehicles (39%),
poisoning (18%),
falls (16%),
suffocation (5%),
drowning (2.9%),
fires (2.8%),
medical mistakes (2.2%),
environmental factors (1.2%),
and bicycles and tricycles (0.7%).

Among children:
motor vehicles (45%),
suffocation (18%),
drowning (14%),
fires (9%),
bicycles and tricycles (2.4%),
falls (2%),
poisoning (1.6%),
environmental factors (1.5%),
and medical mistakes (0.8%).

Clearly guns don't kill people -- cars kill people. Unlike a car, however, only a gun can protect you from an assailant.

As an aside, I have an assault rifle (in California, bought it just because it was being banned) a .45 and a 9mm. I also have an SUV. Believe me, I could kill a lot more people with the SUV than I could with all three guns and a wheelbarrow full of ammo. Just hit a crowded parade area, with jam-packed sidewalks, one fine day and start mowing people down. You can keep that up a lot longer in an SUV than you can shooting on the street corner (before a cop shoots you or the crowd jumps you). I can go 400 miles on a tank of gas, I could mow down most of a parade route before the cops boxed me in and shot me.

You want to keep your kids safe? Hide the keys. You want to keep society safe? Take away the cars.

Re:Prosecute the parents

[Eg0Death]

In 2007 there where:

301,621,157 people in the US
11,251,828 Total CRIMES
1,408,337 Violent (seperate from murders)
16,929 Murders (not included in violent)
855,856 Aggrivated Assault - a reckless attack with intent to injure seriously (as with a deadly weapon)
2,176,140 Burglaries - Lowest since 1991

This gives a .47%violent crime rate in America ((1,408,337+16,929)/301,621,157)

Source http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm [disastercenter.com]

In 2005 there were:
419,640 - Non fatal Gun crimes
8,478 - Handgun deaths
2,868 - other gun deaths
2,147 - Knife deaths
671 - Blunt object deaths
2,528 - Other object deaths

USDOJ Source.gov http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/weaponstab.htm [usdoj.gov]

UK Crimes

In 2007 there were:
60,975,000 - Total Population (estimate)
1,045,369 Violence crimes
621,958 Burglaries
3,810,971 Total Crimes

This gives a 1.7% violent crime rate (1,045,369/60,975,000)

http://212.78.84.22/superweb/login.do?guest=guest [212.78.84.22]

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6 [statistics.gov.uk]

So the UK has a crime rate roughly 3.61 times worse than the US in violent crime rates.

Does fear of being shot deter criminals in the U.S.? Are citizens of the U.K. better at reporting crimes?

Shamelessly copied from http://runryder.com/helicopter/t471261p1/ [runryder.com]