After Shootings In El Paso And Dayton, Trump And Republicans Take Aim At Video Game Industry

President Trump and other Republican politicians believe violent video games bear some responsibility for recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Addressing the shootings Monday morning, Trump spoke about mental illness and glorifying violence. He also brought up the video game industry, believing the multi-billion dollar industry played a role in the weekend’s tragedies.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” Trump told reporters. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this, and it has to begin immediately.”

Trump was joined by Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who spoke to Fox News on Sunday about the shootings and expressed his belief that video games played a role. He specifically spoke about shooters, saying they are the types of games that “dehumanize individuals.”

“I've always felt that is a problem for future generations and others,” McCarthy said. “We watch from studies shown before of what it does to individuals. When you look at these photos of how it took place, you can see the actions within videogames.”

McCarthy’s comments also come on the heels of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who appeared on “Fox & Friends” to discuss the El Paso shooting. He specifically called out the video game industry and the role he believes it plays in such massacres.

“How long are we going to let, for example, and ignore at the federal level particularly, where they can do something about the video game industry,” Patrick said. “In this manifesto, that we believe is from the shooter, he talks about living out his super-soldier fantasy on 'Call of Duty.'"

While McCarthy and Patrick talked about studies that support their claim, neither provided such evidence during the interviews. Most published studies done have proven there is little to no correlation between violence and video games.

One of the most recent studies was done by Oxford University in 2019, which found there was no correlation between the time one spends playing video games and committing violent acts.

A 2018 report released by the Trump administration said there was little to no evidence suggesting video games play a role in such acts of violence.

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday was quick to rebuke Trump and McCarthy on video games' role in mass shootings.

"People suffer from mental illness in every other country on earth; people play video games in virtually every other country on earth. The difference is the guns," Clinton posted on Twitter.