At the time of this writing, #VideogamesAreNotToBlame is the top trend on Twitter, with over 40,000 tweets and counting. Many critics of the narrative that video games played a role in the mass shootings over the weekend are using the hashtag to point out flaws in the logic. Namely, that violent video games are prominent in many other countries besides the United States, yet the US still has significantly more violent gun deaths.
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Some feel as though politicians, like Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, are attempting to use video games to deflect from the real reasons why these mass shootings took place. Putting the debate over American gun rights aside, we can say definitively that the El Paso, Texas shooting was racially motivated, with the shooter primarily targeting Hispanics. Additionally, the El Paso shooter parroted white supremacist conspiracy theories in his manifesto.
Regardless of the evidence, some politicians continue to push the narrative that video games cause gun violence, and it will be interesting to see where we go from here. Trump was shown a video game violence highlight reel last year and even met with top gaming executives, but nothing ever came from those meetings, so it’s unclear if any legislation designed to regulate video game violence will ever be written or not.
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