Oh, conservatives (and a handful of liberals). When will you learn?
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” you mumble. “Blame the games. Games make people violent.”
[Despite my best efforts, I can’t get the embed code for this Colbert clip to work–so here’s the link: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/425350/april-10-2013/tip-wag—gun-edition—united-nations–senate-republicans—video-games%5D
This argument used to make me angry. Now it just makes me laugh nervously, like when I’m at a store and somebody’s kid knocks over a display of Cheerios and then screams about wanting ice cream, and I want to say something but I’m worried their parent might be a gun-packing conservative.
The Angry Scholar 
You should check out the game Wolfire Games produced for 7FPS – Receiver (http://www.wolfire.com/receiver). The Cyberpunk Mindkill stuff is a little over the top but the level of detail in the gun mechanics transforms firearms from HUD-reliant bullet wands to a much more impressive simulation of what is needed to possess and operate a firearm.
It’s especially poignant as the game starts with one of 3 guns (revolver, automatic, traditional handgun) in a random state – safety on/off, chamber empty/full, magazine loaded/partially loaded/empty, magazine in/out of gun, etc. So when you’re finally ready to start playing there’s the definite possibility of shooting yourself or pulling the slide back and spilling all your bullets all over the floor.
And this is without even going into realistic bullet physics (bullets ricocheting, ricochets losing momentum, etc), procedural generation, enemies, and targeted damage.
Regardless of an individual’s views on gun control, this gun simulation is a valuable exploration of guns in video games – both for the comparison between what most pundits and representatives perceive as “violent video games” and reality, and providing a more concrete experience of actual handgun operation for the inexperienced.
Sorry, I missed this one somehow. Yeah, that sounds like an interesting way to explore these issues… although it doesn’t sound like much of a success, game-wise. I mean, just going by your description, I wouldn’t want to play that. But then again, I wouldn’t want to own a gun, either.