The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. trade group that represents major video game and computer game companies, released a statement supporting in part President Obama’s new plan to reduce gun violence, unveiled Wednesday. But the ESA also maintained that research shows no link between videogames and “violent behavior and in the real world.”
The ESA was responding specifically the portion of the President’s plan that calls upon Congress to grant $10 million in funding to the Centers for Disease Control to study “the relationship between video games, media images, and violence.” Here’s the full text of the ESA’s statement:
Washington, DC – January 16, 2013 – “ESA appreciates President Obama’s and Vice President Biden’s leadership and the thoughtful, comprehensive process of the White House Gun Violence Commission. We concur with President Obama’s call today for all Americans to do their part, and agree with the report’s conclusion that “the entertainment and video game industries have a responsibility to give parents tools and choices about the movies and programs their children watch and the games their children play.”
“The same entertainment is enjoyed across all cultures and nations, but tragic levels of gun violence remain unique to our country. Scientific research and international and domestic crime data all point toward the same conclusion: entertainment does not cause violent behavior in the real world.
“We will embrace a constructive role in the important national dialogue around gun violence in the United States, and continue to collaborate with the Administration and Congress as they examine the facts that inform meaningful solutions.”
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