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By Regis Giles
South Florida-based Regis Giles is the creator and owner of the website Girls Just Wanna Have Guns, which promotes women’s self-defense, whether using a gun, Taser, knife, spear, pencil or some form of martial arts. A voice of young conservatives, Giles talked to Variety’s Carole Horst about responsible gun ownership, the media and society’s role in violent acts.
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Do you see a connection between violence depicted in media and real-life violence?
Absolutely. Media violence is overexaggerated and very theatrical, but you see people in the news copying the violent acts in movies and videogames.
Is one form of media — say, videogames — more dangerous than others?
TV news deals with reality, and I don’t feel that it’s as dangerous as violence in other forms of entertainment. When people are watching series and movies, they are relaxing and watching in comfort. They’re observing a story. With violent videogames, they’re actually partaking in and instigating the violent acts.
We’ve become insensitive to violent images. We see the gruesome, vivid images, and for teenagers watching a movie, it’s not socially acceptable to turn your head in fear and terror. It’s socially acceptable to look straight ahead and not have a reaction, because then you’re viewed as the badass.
But don’t most people know that it’s not reality?
We are being desensitized. People obviously realize that it’s not reality, but there’s those gamers and horror-film watchers who end up taking notes. There’s something in some people’s psychosis that goes off. There are many contributing factors.
There’s no way that movies today or videogames can de-glamorize violence, because we are saturated with it. The one response that society needs to take as a whole — if they really want to see violent acts changing in this nation — we need as a society to reject these violent videogames and films. Plenty of studies show that violent videogames, violent cartoons and movies and TV shows that are introduced to kids increase the level of violence in those kids.
"Doug Giles and his team over at ClashDaily.com cut through the crap to expose what have become modern day human slaughter houses: gun free zones. Their candid arguments about allowing teachers to protect themselves and the students in their care through concealed carry should be taken seriously. As a result maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to save some lives someday rather than call the cops to report the body count." - Katie Pavlich. News Editor,Townhall.com and NYT's Best-selling Author, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up
"There were many lessons to draw from the horrific Newtown, CT school shooting. Unfortunately, most of the media and political Left came up with the wrong ones. But not Doug Giles and his writers over at ClashDaily.com. In the wake of this horror, they offered a robust defense of American citizens' right to bear arms and common sense answers to societal violence. The Sandy Hook Massacre: When Seconds Count, the Police are Minutes Away is a great resource for those interested in this vital, Constitutional issue." - S.E. Cupp, MSNBC Host and The Blaze Contributor
