Study: Gun Violence In Movies Doubled Since 1950

Findings also show that PG-13 films are more gun-heavy today than R-rated films

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It’s no surprise that Hollywood loves guns, but now there are new numbers to back it up. A study to be published in next month’s issue of Pediatrics has found that the level of gun violence in the most popular PG-13 movies has risen, reports the New York Times.

Using a sample of 945 movies that all found success at the U.S. box office between 1950 to 2012, the study’s authors counted how frequently instances of gun violence took place on screen. Gun violence made an on-average appearance more than twice an hour. The study also found that gun violence in the movies had doubled since the 1950s and, surprisingly, the level of gun-related violence in PG-13 movies now even bypasses that in the biggest R-rated movies.

“Violence sells. We recognize that, and the movie industry realizes it,” Daniel Romer, from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the authors of the study, told the NYT. “We just think that violence, especially the kind being shown, especially with guns, should be thought of a little more critically.”

[New York Times]