Two days after a 17-year-old opened fire in his Texas high school, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick linked school shootings to abortion and violent video games.
Patrick blamed what he deemed the social acceptance of abortion and violent video games for the epidemic of school gun violence.
"Should we be surprised in this nation? We have devalued life, whether it's through abortion, whether it's the breakup of families or violent movies and particularly violent video games, which now outsell music and music," he said on ABC's This Week.
17-year-old suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzi has been accused of killing eight classmates and two teachers in a rampage at Santa Fe High School outside Houston. An additional 13 people were injured. The shooting is another dark - and yet unsurprising chapter - in gun violence targeting high school students in the US. It comes as a public backlash toward gun violence in the US, led by the students themselves, continues.
Patrick said: "Psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you that students are desensitised to violence and have lost empathy to their victims by watching hours and hours of violent video games."
Patrick also pointed to the bullying between adults and children on social media platforms. "We have to look at ourselves," he continued. "It's not about the guns, it's about us."
When asked about gun regulation, Patrick said the responsibility started at home and suggested that a crime may have been committed if the shooter in Santa Fe was able to take possession of his father's firearms.