GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Trump Says He's Meeting With "Members Of The Video Game Industry" To Discuss School Safety [Update]

Trump is meeting with unspecified people in the gaming business to "see what can be done" in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting.

485 Comments

Update 2: The ESA has since confirmed it will be in attendance for the meeting. It's among several representatives of the video game industry that will be there for the meeting set up by President Donald Trump. It's set to take place on Thursday, September 8.

Update: The ESA says it has still not been invited to any meeting with Trump. "The ESA and our member companies have not received an invitation to meet with President Trump," the organization told GamesBeat on Thursday evening US time. Original story follows.

President Trump will meet with "members of the video game industry" to discuss what can be done about video games in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting in February. After the shooting, Trump hosted a meeting at the White House to discuss school safety, and among the subjects that came up were the level of violence in video games and movies.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump will be "meeting with members of the video game industry to see what they can do on that front as well."

In his White House meeting in February, Trump said he has heard from "more and more people" that "the level of violence in video games is really shaping young people's thoughts."

That wasn't the first time he's pointed a finger at violent video games. Following the shooting at Sandy Hook in 2012, he tweeted, "Video game violence and glorification must be stopped--it is creating monsters!" Matt Bevin, the Republican governor of Kentucky, also pointed to video games in the wake of Parkland just recently.

Going back to the recent White House briefing, Sanders said, "This is going to be an ongoing process and something that we don't expect to happen overnight, but something that we expect to continue be engaged in and continue to look for the best ways possible to make sure we're doing everything we can to schools across the country." You can see the video game-related segment in the briefing starting at around 6:30 in the video above.

There is no word yet about who Trump will meet with. Kotaku's Jason Schreier said on Twitter that the ESA and its members have not been invited to a meeting with Trump at this time. The ESA is the organization that puts on E3 every year and lobbies on behalf of the video game industry in Washington D.C. Some of its members include huge, powerful companies such as Activision, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts, among many others.

In 2013, then-vice president Joe Biden met with members of the video game industry executives such as then-EA CEO John Riccitiello to discuss the link between violent video games and gun violence as part of a wider task force into gun control measures. ESA president Michael Gallagher was also at this meeting.

There have been calls from legislators over the years to impose various restrictions on, among things, the sale of violent video games to minors. In a landmark 2011 case, the Supreme Court sided with the gaming industry in the case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, striking down a bill that would have fined retailers for each violent game sold to minors.

We will report back with more details from Trump's video game meeting in the days ahead.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 485 comments about this story
485 Comments  RefreshSorted By 
GameSpot has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to toxic conduct in comments. Any abusive, racist, sexist, threatening, bullying, vulgar, and otherwise objectionable behavior will result in moderation and/or account termination. Please keep your discussion civil.

Avatar image for TruSake
TruSake

500

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

The biggest issue starts at the top. And that is the racist and hateful rhetoric Trump spews on Twitter and at his rallies... and that's the President of a country speaking that way.

2 • 
Avatar image for ch2423
ch2423

1978

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By ch2423

It's not a video game or gun problem, it's a people problem. People are too expensive to fix, so we get this over and over.

2 • 
Avatar image for TruSake
TruSake

500

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

@ch2423: no... it's a gun problem.

2 • 
Avatar image for ronaldmcreagan
ronaldmcreagan

782

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Trump couldn't ban violent videogames even if he wanted to. And he doesn't want to. He's just trying to appease the gun grabbing commies. This will all blow over in the next few days, and will never be talked about again. That said, I wish videogames were more violent. You should be able to blow off specific body parts in games. Like limbs.

3 • 
Avatar image for halo1399
halo1399

617

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 10

User Lists: 0

Hopefully he can get Fortnite and Call of Duty banned. I'd love him forever those games are garbage

Upvote • 
Avatar image for wayne3763
wayne3763

33

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

How did the president determine that video games were responsible for the problem, any evidence of coarse not it is only an assumption!!!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for coldbloodid
Coldbloodid

6

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

None of the morons in here read this article did they.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for skyx26
skyx26

138

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Edited By skyx26

Hey Trump, want to stop violence and school shottings???

STOP SELLING WEAPONS AT WALLMART, YOU MORON!!!

Weapons are not candies...

Upvote • 
Avatar image for xavier141524
xavier141524

511

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Edited By xavier141524

gaming is not the issue

Upvote • 
Avatar image for yasso
yasso

660

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 15

User Lists: 0

It's funny how many of the comments here are supporting the banning of guns, when this is exactly what these news about the shootings are trying to accomplish: Convince you and everyone that guns should be banned. I'm not even American but I believe that one of the saving graces of the US today is that you are able to arm yourself there or that guns are more accessible than they are in other parts of the world. Reason being: A 100% de-weaponized population is even more of a population of sheep for the powers-to-be. The US is fast-moving toward a militaristic regime ruled by private armies and corporations. What would make it even easier for the powers-to-be to accomplish this than to disarm every single American citizen? And non-Americans who oppose guns so much because they can't get them in their countries? Grow the **** up, please, then wake the **** up and smell the shit, not just your coffee, because the shit is hitting your fans very soon. More and more freedoms are systematically and subtly, gradually being take away from the average Western citizen, and we still have morons calling for the disarming of all citizens, whether in the US or elsewhere, because state media highlights the "shootings" oh-so-plainly for you. Dimwits.

3 • 
Avatar image for BabyPulpFiction
BabyPulpFiction

246

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

what a f*cking idiot.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for cub
Cub

40

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By Cub

It's not the games, it's the people that are causing this and banning games with violence would do nothing.

Shouldn't gun laws be stricter in America than they are now?

It's common sense that violent games don't cause violence, what with how many people play them. If there was any link at all it would probably be obvious.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for randallsilver
randallsilver

127

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 19

User Lists: 0

You know who has more video games than any other country in the world? Japan. You know who never shoots up schools? I would also say Japan, but it's actually any other country than Asserica. What a retard. And they voted for him.

7 • 
Avatar image for saitohiraga
SaitoHiraga

80

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

This is a really bad way of trying to shift the blame because they don't wanna ban guns outright because of the money they make. The least Trump and the rest of his primitive shit infested slaves can do is at least be honest and avoid other industries needlessly suffering XD

6 • 
Avatar image for urbanman2004
urbanman2004

849

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

These good for nothing sorry a$$ real live POS politicians want to deflect by blaming the problem on video games and using that as a scapegoat instead of owing up and being upfront a/b the fact that they're on these gun lobbyists' payroll, smh.

3 • 
Avatar image for relentless_games
Relentless_Games

12

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I lived in Korea and we were all addicted to violent games, didn't see us shooting up our schools... until that 1 guy moved to America, oh wait, he was born there.

3 • 
Avatar image for coldbloodid
Coldbloodid

6

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By Coldbloodid

@relentless_games: No but you make up for with it , with your massive suicide rate . We all have our own problems .

2 • 
Avatar image for relentless_games
Relentless_Games

12

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Relentless_Games

@coldbloodid: Better suicide than mass murder, and I don't think suicide has anything to do with video games either.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for coldbloodid
Coldbloodid

6

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By Coldbloodid

@relentless_games: How is mass suicide better lol , and I don't think video games are to blame either . No one is saying people do this because they play video games lol .

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ChrisAnetkaC
ChrisAnetkaC

726

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 341

User Lists: 0

He has a point. Look at all the Wolfenstein or COD fanatics. They are bloodthirsty murderers in incubation.

2 • 
Avatar image for relentless_games
Relentless_Games

12

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@ChrisAnetkaC: They are bloodthirsty murderers in incubation with easy access to guns, we got the same kind of people in Korea but they can't go on killing sprees because they can't get there hands on guns.

3 • 
Avatar image for ChrisAnetkaC
ChrisAnetkaC

726

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 341

User Lists: 0

@relentless_games: If the North Koreans had access to video games they would have a way of venting all that anger through them by blowing away virtual enemies. It's scary to think what would happen in USA if the video games were banned. It'd be the apocalypse now.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for theanimaster
theanimaster

46

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By theanimaster

Relax... this is all just a publicity stunt — much like disowning the NRA is. No president is seriously FUCKING DUMB ENOUGH to ban “violent games” — but who knows — this IS Trump afterall. He is capable of amazingly retardedly fuckwitted decisions. Like, banning video games so that all the millennials will figure out that buying assault rifles with the blessings of the NRA makes for an even more awesome, “real-life” experience — what when they realize REAL bullets are cheaper than those rubber NERF pellets... oh yeah, and who better to blame it on than those nerdy idiots who think they’re SO smart with their video games when the poor ol’ NRA are trying to sell the real deal... I mean — no video games = more guns sold for the NRA. Win/win situation? Herr Drumpf isch very brilliant indeed. :) :) :)

6 • 
Avatar image for Scarf0
Scarf0

222

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Scarf0

This won't go anywhere. Anyway, Trump is still a thousand times a better president that damn fool Obama!

3 • 
Avatar image for cyruz_vyruz
Cyruz_Vyruz

28

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@Scarf0: The only "damn fool" here is yourself - you and the rest of the tRumpettes. Raci$t retard.

3 • 
Avatar image for H0RSE
H0RSE

2133

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 1

Edited By H0RSE

@Scarf0:

Remember, Trump received less overall votes - like 3 million less. Trump won based off an archaic rule that no longer needs to apply, known as the electoral college.

Imagine applying this to other voting scenarios, like walking in to work, "Okay guys, I gathered you all here to take a vote on whether we get designated smoke breaks or not. All those in favor? 5. All those against? 3. But actually, Jimmy and Sally are in the back of the room where people don't usually stand, so their votes actually count as 3 votes. 5 to 6 against; no smoke breaks. Well, back to work."

Even in political elections outside the Presidency, it doesn't even apply. The ElectoralCollege is outdated and needs to be abolished, because it puts the election of the President in the hands of the few rather than the many, and that is undemocratic, pure and simple.

2 • 
Avatar image for coldbloodid
Coldbloodid

6

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@urbanman2004: nah I KNOW MY DAD, he and my mother are married and choose to have me .... u jely.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for urbanman2004
urbanman2004

849

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@coldbloodid: Learn to spell first punk. My point exactly

Upvote • 
Avatar image for H0RSE
H0RSE

2133

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 1

Edited By H0RSE

@Scarf0:

"These libtards are a comical lot. They had 8 years of the monumental failure known as Barak Hessien Obama. It breaks their little delicate snowflake hearts that Trump in his first year, the economy is booming, consumer confidence is at a 60 year high, Isis has lost nearly 100 percent of their territory (that they gained under feckless Obama), and manufacturing jobs are returning to America. I thank the heavens we finally have a President that puts America first."

- those things are happening because they are rolling over from the last presidency, you dolt... Just like when Obama inherited the economic mess Bush helped create. You don't get those kind of numbers out of one yr. as president, unless they were already there or nearly there to begin with.

Things take time, whether its legislation needing time to actually become law, or the time needed for said legislation actually taking effect on society.

Trump is also creating artificial demand for jobs, like putting tariffs on solar, in an effort to bring coal jobs back. What is this, 1870? Coal is dead as dead.

2 • 
Avatar image for Scarf0
Scarf0

222

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@H0RSE: Nice revisionist history moron. Obama ruined the economy just like Bush. In fact, that idiotic fool Obama pumped tens of millions of dollars into wallstreet, as a reward for crashing our economy. In fact Barak Hessien Obama accumulated more national debt than the previous 43 president combined! 20 trillion dollars that retard Obama spent, and has nothing to show for it. Obama also wasted millions of tax payer dollars on his failed green energy policy like soylndra. Stupid Obama even shut down coal factories by diverting resources from it to his green energy policy that nobody could afford. Jobs were so stagnant for 8 years under that jackass Obama, that nationwide fast food workers across America were demanding $15 to $18 per hour, because those were the main jobs being produced under 8 years under Obama. That's why libtards sould like some f‘in idiots, trying to give Obama credit for Trump's great economy. Trump cut taxes that grows the economy. Trump got major corporations to invest and build in America again. Trump done away with job killing regulations, and freed Americans of the God Awful ObamaCare mandates! Trump also got manufacturing jobs to return to America. That's why consumer confidence is at a 60 year high under Trump, and the economy is also booming under Trump. #MAGA That's why Trump will be reelected.

2 • 
Avatar image for OtakuD50
OtakuD50

166

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@Scarf0: I'm just here to laugh at you. Claims of revisionist history, then cites lies as proof.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for relentless_games
Relentless_Games

12

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Scarf0: Obama says its Guns, Trump says its video games and Obama is the fool? I don't see how that makes sense.

5 • 
Avatar image for Scarf0
Scarf0

222

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Scarf0

@relentless_games: Oh please, the Foodstamp President Obama has been on both sides of every issue. He waits to see which way the political winds blow, and he "evolves" his position. By the way, it was the Obama administration that signed for gun bumstocks to be legal. More of that Hope N change for you to believe in. lol

2 • 
Avatar image for coldbloodid
Coldbloodid

6

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@relentless_games: Every president including obama has tryed to blame this kind of things on video games and the media in general.

3 • 
Avatar image for PixelAddict
PixelAddict

2237

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 12

User Lists: 0

What a toolbox this Twitter in Chief is. I personally liked his suggestion the videogame companies consider using a ratings system.

His Ignorance Level is maxed, with a +5 facet modded to add even MORE stoopid.

3 • 
Avatar image for RetroPlay2
RetroPlay2

52

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@PixelAddict: Ratings system? Isn't that what ESRB has been doing for over two decades?

Upvote • 
Avatar image for PixelAddict
PixelAddict

2237

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 12

User Lists: 0

@RetroPlay2: Exactly right. I was being a bit sarcastic with my "liked his suggestion" comment.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for jsprunk
jsprunk

2367

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 5

Ban millennials! They’re the ones shooting each other in schools.

3 • 
Avatar image for awesomeandstuff
awesomeandstuff

80

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By awesomeandstuff

@jsprunk: You don't know what millennial's are right?

"Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are the generationaldemographiccohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years"

Upvote • 
Avatar image for jsprunk
jsprunk

2367

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 5

@awesomeandstuff: Apparently I do know what a Millennial is according to your definition.

The Columbine Killers were born in the mid 80s and Nikolas Cruz was born in 2000.

So your point was?

Upvote • 
Avatar image for awesomeandstuff
awesomeandstuff

80

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@jsprunk: My point was that no one seems to know what a Millennial are. But sure you got it right by one year.
But school shootings doesn't seems to be a generation thing!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States

Upvote • 
Avatar image for jsprunk
jsprunk

2367

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 5

@awesomeandstuff: I know and my original post was mostly sarcastic....mostly.

Recently, I had the misfortune of running across some of the personal blog entries made by one of Columbine killers...before he became a killer. Oddly enough, or maybe not so oddly, the things he wrote in his blog in 1996-97 were shocking as hell back then, and everyone attributed the content of his blog entries to being a surefire way of recognizing someone crazy enough to be a school shooter.

However, today, just peruse any news site, or social media outlet and you can see millions of posts everyday that closely resemble the internet mannerisms of the Columbine killers.

Edgy, hate-filled posts on everything from people using the incorrect version of they’re, their, or there to the political faux paux du jour.

I don’t blame Millennials for school shootings, but I’ll be damned if Millennials don’t subject themselves to 30X the hate on a daily basis than earlier generations did.

2 • 
Avatar image for H0RSE
H0RSE

2133

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 1

Edited By H0RSE

@awesomeandstuff:

You forgot about xennials, which is small sub-genre sharing characteristics of both Gen X and Gen Y. It's range is people born around mid 70's to early 80's.

Also, Gen X ranges from birth years of early-to-mid 60's to the early 80's. This would put the early 80's range used to classify millennials, as Gen X'ers instead.

Upvote •