Head of SMU's Guildhall video game program dismisses gaming as cause of mass shootings

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The head of SMU’s video game development program said the industry is being unfairly blamed for deadly mass shootings in the United States.

President Trump and other GOP lawmakers, in recent days, have pointed the finger at violent video games as one of the causes of the deadly rampages involving guns.

Gary Brubaker is the director of SMU'S Guildhall on the university's Plano campus. After the reignited debate involving shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Brubaker is publicly stating violent video games are not a cause for mass shootings.

"I think demonizing video games is an easy talking point that was put forward by the NRA for years but has been shown consistently not to be the case,” Brubaker said.

The SMU administrator on Monday penned an op-ed article. He wrote it shortly after Trump’s remarks, during which he called out “gruesome and grisly” violent video games as a factor for violence becoming commonplace.

“Scientific evidence and anecdotal experience demonstrate video games are not the problem. I urge lawmakers to put partisan politics aside and seek evidence-based solutions that will truly reduce the number of these horrific crimes,” Brubaker wrote.

Brubaker pointed to other countries with the same games.

“You can look at countries like South Korea, China, Japan. They all spend much more per capita on violent games than we do in the United States and have some of the lowest incidences of violence. There really is no correlation,” Brubaker said.

Brubaker, in his op-ed, does indicate that not all games are appropriate for all children.

The American Psychological Association is an organization that has investigated the effects of violent video game use for more than two decades. Its research suggests higher amounts of exposure are associated with aggressive behavior and decreases social engagement, but not necessarily violence.