"The 13-year-old Arkansas boy accused of gunning down classmates was influenced by the violence portrayed in the rap music he played repeatedly before the shooting, his English teacher told lawmakers Tuesday. Mitchell Johnson listened to gangsta-rap artists including Tupac Shakur and Bone Thugs 'N Harmony "over and over" in the months leading to the March rampage in Jonesboro, Ark., said teacher Debbie Pelley. Often, he sang along to the lyrics, like the ones about "coming to school and killing all the kids. Mitchell brought this music to school with him, listened to it on the bus, tried listening to it in classes .... He was far more into this music than anyone else they (friends) knew," Pelley told the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, which is considering the effectiveness of advisory labels on music. Senators expressed concern that label warnings are failing to tell parents enough information about such music, which they said sends strong messages of violence and sex. But Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said lawmakers are using the school shooting as an excuse for censorship. During a news conference before the hearing, Rosen referred to a media profile of Mitchell that mentioned his active participation in his Baptist church and choir. "Nothing in that music made a troubled young child commit that crime," Rosen said. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who sought the hearing, said he was concerned that the music industry is marketing its most violent and misogynist music to teens. "While industry executives assert that children are protected from this music, much evidence suggests that most hyper-violent albums are bought by children. There don't seem to be many Marilyn Manson fans over the age of 20," he said, referring to the shock rocker whose lyrics have been blamed for influencing the suicide of at least one teen-ager. The suicide was the topic of the panel's last hearing on the topic. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., recalled how the boy's father had testified that his son was listening to a Marilyn Manson song when he killed himself. Krist Novoselic, the former bassist for the band Nirvana, said lawmakers shouldn't base their opinions on one example of tragedy. "There are millions of children or young people in the United States who hear those same lyrics and aren't compelled to kill themselves," he said. Charlie Gilreath, editor-in-chief of the magazine Entertainment Monitor, said Congress should not try to legislate a ratings system but instead find more ways to inform parents about the lyrical content of music. He suggested having the lyrics of songs made available prior to a purchase at retail stores. He said the effort should be similar to nutritional labels that the Food and Drug Administration requires on food packages. Gilreath agreed with lawmakers that the problem with warning labels is that they provide little content information to parents. "They think they're hip and cool because they grew up in the 70's and 80's but they're clueless," Gilreath said.

My Reply:

OH PLEASE! This whole idea that he did it because he listened to Rap music is pure bullshit (if in fact he did listen to it at all). I'm so sick of Politicians, Religious freaks, and anybody else blaming violence on Rap. I think basically that white Amerikkka does not want to accept that their kids can be so violent and cruel to their own kind as they claim Blacks to be. They always  have to find an excuse for themselves to be right and us wrong as usual, well sounds like the "chickens have come home to roost", if you ask me. With all the kids killing other kids in the past year or so, the media has found yet another way to blame us for things going wrong in this country. To them "there is no way our kids could do things like that, so we'll just find an excuse for them to have done it...... I've got it, let's blame it on Rap music so we can kill two birds with one stone. We clean up our reputations and remain good white parents and citizens, and we put the heat on them again!" A Politician looking for votes-"Splendid, now I'll have something to campaign about. I'll tell the voters that this Music is hurting the country and if elected I'll do anything to stop it so we can have peace again. After that, it's smooth sailin' for ME buddy!" Religious freak-"If he can convince them that, I can tell people they need to turn to God, get more people back in the church, increase our revenue, and retire early!"

HELLO! There was violence way before there was Rap, so what was the cause of all the violence then? What "happened" to "cause" Slavery, The Holocaust, and all other acts of violence, racial or war related, huh. What can you blame that on? I'll give you the answer-YOUR OWN EVIL. If kids kill, it's because they want to, blaming it on music or anything else is just a cop-out. If that's the case, then how come little boys are not womanizing like President Bill Clinton?, yeah, I went there. How come they don't blame it on movies like the Terminator, and Rambo, that's what the Jonesboro boys remind me of, 2 little Rambos.

  Think of the facts:

1. The boys were used to guns from their background. They went hunting so they know what death and killing is all about.
2. It isn't strange that a 13 year old was so used to guns because they lived where there was a lot of hunting, and fathers taught and took their kids hunting regularly. In fact, the boy had gotten a gun for his birthday.
3. The two boys PLANNED THE WHOLE THING. They had a van (it was also not odd that young teenagers could or were allowed to drive) stocked full of weapons. They were armed with enough weapons to kill everyone at the school which was what they probably were attempting to do. The law unfortunately says that the maximum sentence they can get, is to be locked up until they turn 21. Well, since that's the law there, I can't be mad at their sentence but, they need to change that law or at least make examples out these "boys."