Looking for links between games & violence

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - With all of the recent shootings, many are wondering if there is a strong link between playing violent video games and gun violence. News 13 spoke with a local psychologist who says that in all the research he has come across, it does not appear that there is a direct correlation between the two.

Dr. Christopher Alexander adds that is all of the recent shootings, the offenders are male. This is something he says is reflected in current studies. So far, the research indicates that most of shooters in all instances are male and have experienced some sort of loss or some failure. Most are also going through some sort of depression and are even suicidal. Alexander states the studies also show that even countries which have the highest rates of kids playing violent video games, they do not have that high of a rate of gun violence.

Another thing they see in the current studies is that 40 to 45 percent of girls play video games and they do not see as many violent acts as they do with boys.

One other common denominator among all the shooters involved in tragic shootings was that they had access to guns, not so much that they were playing violent video games.