Games a bigger problem than guns, says Senator

Tennesse Senator Lamar Alexander (R) has become the latest in a string of American politicians to point to games as a possible cause of the nation’s gun violence.

Many have jumped on board the anti-games train in the wake of the Newtown school shooting, from the NRA to Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphey (D), but this time the comments are a bit more extreme.

"I think video games is a bigger problem than guns," he said on MSNBC’s The Rundown.

"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." 

Senator Alexander points out that not much more can be done about games than guns due to constitutional protections, and from his remarks it can be deduced that he plans to wait and see what sort of support bills related to these issues can drum up.

President Obama has called on Congress to fund research into the relationship between games and violence, and a bill demanding just such a study has already been put before the House twice since the Sandy Hook massacre in December.

Regardless, it seems unlikely that any amount of research will convince many a video game has more of an effect on a human being than a 5.56mm round traveling at supersonic speeds.

For those on the recieving end, it’s hard to concieve of a bigger "problem"; unless of course it’s a bigger bullet.