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For those of you too young to remember, let me take you back to a time where video games and music were the root of all problems. Video games, specifically Doom, were blamed for Columbine in 1999. Disbarred and perpetually disgraced lawyer, Jack Thompson, also blamed violence on video games. Some specific targets of Thompson included Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Bully, Manhunt, and Mortal Kombat. Before the suspect was ever even identified in the Virginia Tech shooting, Thompson quickly proclaimed that the shooter must have trained in Counter-Strike.

Last week, Republican Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin blamed the recent school shooting tragedy on video games.
"There are video games that yes, are listed for mature audiences, but kids play them and everybody knows it, and there’s nothing to prevent the child from playing them.

"They celebrate the slaughtering of people. There are games that literally replicate and give people the ability to score points for doing the very same thing that these students are doing inside of schools, where you get extra points for finishing someone off who’s lying there begging for their life.

"We need to have an honest conversation as to what should and should not be allowed in the United States as it relates to the things being put in the hands of our young people.

"I’m a big believer in the First Amendment and right to free speech, but there are certain things that are so graphic as it relates to violence, and things that are so pornographic on a whole another front that we allow to pass under the guise of free speech, which arguably are. But there is zero redemptive value. There is zero upside to any of this being in the public domain, let alone in the minds and hands and homes of our young people."

And now today, in remarks made at the White House, Donald Trump blindly echoed many of those remarks shared by Bevin.
“We have to look at the internet, because a lot of bad things are happening to young kids and young minds, and their minds are being formed, and we have to do something about maybe what they’re seeing and how they’re seeing it. And also video games. I’m hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people’s thoughts. And you go one further step and that’s the movies. You see these movies, and they’re so violent, a kid is able to see the movie if sex isn’t involved, but killing is involved, and maybe we need to put a rating system for that.”

This is of course nothing new to Trump, who back in 2012 tweeted out, "Video game violence & glorification must be stopped - it is creating monsters!"

And for those who play games, seeing them become a convenient scapegoat is nothing new. It doesn't matter that there have been numerous scientific studies that have found no link between video games and real-world violence, one of which came out just this year.

It also begs the question, "What about those shootings that took place before video games were ever even invented?" Understanding that the first ever video game wasn't even invented until 1958 is key to this next fact: School shootings date back to 1764. In fact, there were at least a few dozen school shooting cases prior to the mid-1950s. These are, of course, only including the ones that are verified. I suppose someone must have traveled back in time to make those people play video games.

In 2005, Democrat Leland Yee attempted to pass a law in California that would criminalize that sale of violent games to minors. It was struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation of First Amendment rights. To those who love to cry about how their video games are censored, it's important to actually realize that if the 2005 law was passed that would be what real censorship of free speech looks like.

It's easier to blame everything other than the real issue, especially when it comes to our current government. A government with a wayward leader that actually made it easier for those with mental health problems to procure firearms. A government that seems content with making it easier to buy an AR-15 than a pistol. Instead of looking at gun control issues or mental health issues throughout the States, it's easier to simply wave them away until the next mass shooting or the next school massacre.

At that point, they will offer up another figurative and literal bag of thoughts and prayers, and dismiss the real problem. A cycle that will undoubtedly go on ad infinitum until people finally begin to pull their heads out of their ass and remove organizations like the NRA from their wallets.