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Why Trump blaming video games for gun crime is wrong, in one chart

Why Trump blaming video games for gun crime is wrong, in one chart
iStock/Statista

In response to horrific mass shootings, one of the excuses Donald Trump likes to use is linking video games, the internet and mental health to gun violence.

Everything except easy access to lethal firearms.

In 2019, addressing the nation at the White House, he said: “We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.

It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence.

We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately.

Trump’s inference that violent video games cause people to commit mass shootings is incorrect.

Statista / Newzoo

According to data collected by Newzoo and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, China is the second biggest country receiving video game industry revenue at $36.5bn (£29.96bn) compared to America which comes in at first place, at $36.9bn (£30.29bn).

In America, the violent gun deaths per 100,000 comes in at 4.43.

China’s number in comparison, is just 0.04.

The difference between the two countries? Guns are legal in America.

Statista created a handy chart to demonstrate that of the top eight recipients of video game money, America has the highest level of violent deaths.

Canada, a country where guns are legal but ownership is not a legal right (as is the case in America's second amendment), it has the second highest rate though it's still miniscule at 0.47, in comparison to the United States.

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