U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2017.
Categories

The DeanBeat: President Trump — guns are the problem, not games

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

President Donald Trump is looking for distractions and scapegoats. Instead of taking on gun ownership, he has asked whether violent video games might be to blame for school shootings such as the horrible massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Trump said last week, “I’m hearing more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people’s thoughts.” And yesterday, news surfaced that Trump would meet with video game executives as a part of the debate over school safety.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X!
Join now to enjoy our free and premium membership perks.
Join Now
Already a member? Sign in
Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.