We Do Not Need Yet Another "Conversation" About Video Games and Violence

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Within 48 hours of the Parkland, Florida, shooting, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin blamed the 17 deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on entertainment and video games. "It's not the gun" that's responsible for the murders, he said. As Bevin repeated his obtuse theory over the ensuing days, President Trump echoed it, saying Feb. 23 that he is "hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts." It came up again at Trump's roundtable discussion Wednesday about school shootings.