The Sandy Hook shooting last month has sparked countless debates recently about the possibility that violent video games or violent media in general could be the cause of all these acts of violence. Senator Lamar Alexander, thinks it’s not only a possibility — he believes that video games are to blame:

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.

The first thing that jumps out to me here is this one little part: “because video games affect people.”  Really? It’s ridiculous how broad that statement is, and the amount of things you can put instead of video games is bordering on infinite. What about movies? TV shows? Books? Maybe you can even bring in food, cause you know, it affects people.

Speaking of TV shows, Ars Technica notes that if Alexander had said that TV is a bigger problem than guns, he probably would have been laughed out of the room. That’s because TV is an established part of the cultural landscape, and virtually everyone is familiar with it.

Maybe in a few years, as video games become as established as TV, and more and more politicians grow up with video games in society, they won’t be unfairly singled out like they are today. Or maybe pro-gun advocates want to blame everything except guns (for better or for worse). (Note: I don’t know if Senator Alexander is pro or anti guns, but is he Republican so probably pro guns.)

[via Ars Technica]