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This debate has raged on (perhaps not the best choice of words there) for years, are video games (and movies) too violent for our youth?

Let me go on record by doing my best Daniel Bryan and yelling “NO!”

It’s not the movie or the video game that is the problem, it is the child or their upbringing. If violent games or movies were to blame for a person’s behaviour, why has it not affected me? I played my share of Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. I grew up playing wrestling games and football games but you don’t see my body-slamming anyone or being a white Pele on the football field.

When I was studying Media Studies we looked into copycat killing and there was a report which I forget the name of, that categorically denied movie violence having any factor on a childs behaviour. I think they showed a bunch of kids some horrible stuff and then put them in a room of toys, none of them picked up the gun or swords but played with the teddies.

I’m sick and tired of this same old rubbish, over and over, the governments trying to blame the media for what isn’t their fault. If a child is in an abusive household they’ll probably not know any better and just fall into that abusive behaviour. If they watch mum and dad fight every night, curse and scream, what else are they to expect?

If a child ends up playing Call of Duty – which happens despite it being rated 15 – are they more likely to pick up a gun and shoot someone? No. If their mum or dad pulls a gun on the other, then yes, the child may well want to do that too.

Parents need to control the environment they are setting for their children. They are the example they are setting, the mould they are building the child into. Not what they watch on telly.

Activision has hired a prominent lobbying group, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to advocate on a Senate bill aimed at researching the impact of “violent” video games and programming on children. The lobbying registration form doesn’t indicate Activision’s position on the bill.

The bill, S. 134: Violent Content Research Act, aims to have the National Academy of Sciences “study the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children.” The study would investigate whether there is a link between violent video games or programming and aggressive behavior.

Singular to video games, it would study “whether current or emerging characteristics of video games have a unique impact on children, considering in particular video games’ interactive nature and the extraordinarily personal and vivid way violence might be portrayed in such video games.”

This is a separate effort from President Barack Obama’s executive order that the CDC research the causes of gun violence, with a specific mandate to study video games.

The Violent Content Research Act was sent to the full Senate on July 30 and has yet to be raised for vote.