National Rifle Association exec blames video games for 'selling violence' to children

The National Rifle Association placed a portion of the blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on violent video games during a press briefing this morning.

"There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against its own people," NRA head Wayne LaPierre said during the press conference. "Through vicious violent video games, with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here's one: It's called Kindergarten Killers. It's been online for 10 years. How come my research staff can find it, and all yours couldn't, or didn't want anyone to know you've found it?"

LaPierre went on to blame other facets of the entertainment industry as well.

"We have bloodsoaked films out there like American Psycho, Natural Born Killers, they're aired on propaganda loops called Splatterdays, and every single day. A thousand music videos portray life as a joke, portray murder as a way of life, and then have the nerve to call it entertainment.

"Isn't fantasizing about killing people to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?" LaPierre added.

Entertainment companies like the ones responsible for the titles listed above have invited "reckless behavior, criminal cruelty into our homes," LaPierre argued, mentioning that stockholders for those companies are complicit in that act.

LaPierre also argued that gun-free zones only serve to inform killers where they can "inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk," questioning why we protect our banks and other civil buildings with armed guards, but not our schools. He also placed a share of the blame on the news media for providing mass killers with "wall-to-wall attention and a sense of identity."

West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller pleaded with Congress earlier this week to fund a study on the effects of "violent video games and other content" on children. Specifically, the study would commission the National Academy of Sciences to discover whether violent games "cause kids to act aggressively or otherwise hurt their wellbeing."

Representatives for the Entertainment Software Association declined to comment on the NRA's press conference.