A 12-year-old Connecticut boy is dumping his violent video games after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary — and he’s encouraging others to do the same.
Seventh-grader Max Goldstein, of Newtown, used to come home from school and enjoy playing “Call of Duty” — a warfare shooting game where players go on combat missions against computerized enemies and other gamers around the world.
But he changed his mind after his hometown was rocked by the massacre of 20 innocent children by 20-year-old Adam Lanza — who allegedly spent hours playing similar games in his basement.
Max decided to dump all his games for one reason: “All of it is kill, just kill as many people as you can without dying,” he told CBS New York.
With help from his parents, Max set up a Facebook group called “Played Out” — with the slogan, “We choose not to play.”
He’s also setting up a dumping spot in town, where his friends and neighbors can follow in his footsteps and throw away all their shooter games.
“I really think it’s rude and disrespectful to the families who lost children to play these games,” he told the station.
Max’s mom, Roberta Mittleman, told the Hartford Courant she originally opposed her son playing violent games but eventually gave in because he’s an “A” student and a gentle kid.
The Newtown massacre changed everything.
“I don’t believe it’s a root cause, but it’s a contributing factor,” she told the paper.
California-based psychiatrist Carole Lieberman, a vocal opponent of violent video games, is on board with the boy’s idea.
“Instead of banning guns, we need to ban violent video games,” said Dr. Lieberman, who has testified in Congress against violence in pop culture.
“Guns don’t kill people,” she added. “People who are obsessed with violent video games kill people.”