US Senator: Games affect people, guns don't

Gun control opponents in the US are continuing to shift blame for mass shootings away from firearms and toward violent video games. In an appearance on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown today, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander brought up games when asked if there was any chance he could support a bill for universal background checks on gun purchases.

"I'm going to wait and see on all of these bills," Alexander said. "I think video games is a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games and the Second Amendment to the Constitution limits what we can do about guns. So the details matter to me. I'm going to be skeptical of any of these proposals and examine them in light of the Second Amendment to the Constitution."

The appearance came on the same day as a Senate hearing on what can be done about the problem of gun violence in the US. At that hearing, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre reiterated his call for armed security guards in every school, as well as the enforcement of gun laws already on the books. Last month, LaPierre put the blame for the Newtown, CT elementary school shooting on games, calling the gaming business "a callous, corrupt, and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against own people..."

Former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords also appeared at the panel, telling legislators that "too many children are dying," and something must be done to curb gun violence now. Giffords was shot in the head while meeting with voters in a January 2011 event.