House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said video games could contribute to future mass shootings when asked about it in a television interview on Sunday morning. Appearing on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, McCarthy was asked about how to understand factors contributing to a shooting.

"This may be a place where we could find this ahead of time," said McCarthy who discussed ways to detect future shooters.

"The idea that these video games that dehumanize individuals to have a game of shooting individuals," continued McCarthy, "I've always felt that it's a problem for future generations and others. We've watched studies show what it does to individuals, and you look at these photos of how it took place, you can see the actions within video games and others.

More: Dayton, Ohio shooting: Nine dead, 26 injured; suspected gunman killed, police say

More: 'He's a racist': Beto O'Rourke says President Trump is partly to blame for El Paso mass shooting

McCarthy added that he wanted to "get all the facts."

"But what I'd like to do is get all the facts, are there indications? There are times before that we have found this," he said.

McCarthy's comments came after a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart left 20 people dead and 26 injured and before a shooting spree early Sunday at an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio left at least nine dead and 16 hurt.

The New York Times reported last year that there was little evidence to suggest there was any link between video games and mass shootings.

Among other evidence, the New York Times cites a 2011 court opinion from conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, "Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such exposure causes minors to act aggressively."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/04/el-paso-dayton-mass-shootings-kevin-mccarthy-says-video-games-partly-blame/1915061001/

Looks like Texas Lt Gov Dan Patrick is also trying to throw the blame on Fox News...


“How long are we going to ignore — at the federal level particularly — where they can do something about the video game industry. In this manifesto that we believe is from the shooter, this manifesto where he talks about living out his super soldier fantasy on Call of Duty. We know the video game industry is bigger than the movie and music industry combined.”

The shooter’s alleged manifesto, an anti-immigrant screed we will not link to, contained a reference to Call of Duty:

Remember: it is not cowardly to pick low hanging fruit. AKA Don’t attack heavily guarded areas to fulfill your super soldier COD fantasy. Attack low security targets.

Most of the manifesto — which was posted to 8chan before the attack but has yet to be confirmed as the shooter’s by authorities — centered around the writer’s hatred of immigrants and a supposed “Hispanic invasion” of Texas.

Patrick noted that the Texas attack was “obviously a hate crime” against immigrants, before rejecting gun control as a solution, instead focusing on why social media and video games are the leading factor behind mass shootings.

“Why are we allowing young people or anyone to go to a website to learn and be killed and be praised to put this manifesto out. Why are we allowing our children… watching video games? Again, larger than the music industry and the movie industry combined. Are we ignoring that? This was maybe a video game to this evil demon. A video game to him. He has no sense of humanity, no sense of life. He wanted to be a super soldier, for his Call of Duty game, so we need to look at all of this and who we are and as long as we continue to only praise God and look at God on a Sunday morning and kick him out of the town square at our schools the other six days of the week, what do we expect? What do we expect? There’s no excuse for this. We condemn it totally but as a nation we have to look at this and leave all of the politics out of it"

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/texas-lt-gov-makes-call-for-action-on-fox-news-how-long-are-we-going-to-ignore-the-video-game-industry/

So there was barely any reference to a video game with most of the killers manifesto ranting on about illegal immigrants and nation being taken over.  Let's just focus on CoD reference though.  Oh and apparently mass shootings happen because God was kicked out of schools and town squares according to the all knowing Dan Patrick.

violent video games are certainly not the reason people go on shooting sprees. There obviously mental health issues as well as possible personal trauma that are the main reasons.

That being said, it isn’t like there isn’t a correlation. Most of these shooters are drawn to violent video games and they can help dehumanize and desensitize the idea of a real life massacre. However, these people have to already be ill or unhinged.

Honestly, if congress really wants to curb these mass shootings, the most effective thing they could probably do is outlaw news coverage of them. That would be far more effective than getting rid of violent media. If a shooter knew they wouldn’t get their 10 seconds of fame, these events would be much more rare.

Games more dangerous than guns confirmed.

"Honestly, if congress really wants to curb these mass shootings, the most effective thing they could probably do is outlaw news coverage of them."

this can't be overstated

Not this tired narrative again...

I hope mainstream news coverage of this story is peppered with footage from the original DOOM.

No way mexico is so low

So.... guns don't kill people, but video games with guns do?

By this mans logic I'm going to put Aliens and predator playing on loop until Aliens become real.

That shit about God just pretty much is the icing on the cake to this person talking nothing but shit, someone from the NRA handed him a bag of money and a leaflet to read, I'll leave this thread taking nothing from it other than recalling that the guys name sort of rhythms with Don Mattick and for that... I do pity him.

It's a shame those people got shot up, realistically though if you living in America and vote in leaders who continue to do nothing about it they have themselves to blame, it would be like if me as an Irish wanted to live in a country that didn't have pubs and drinking on every street of my town.. I would move, getting shot is just one of the things that you need to live with being in America, either by criminal with gun or cop who thinks you are a criminal with a gun, that's just a part of life in the US... that and plenty of corn syrup and thoughts and prayers of course.

edit - oh... rhyming name is in the end of the second post, not the OP, my bad!