As RedState previously reported, families who tragically lost loved ones during the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are suing a number of organizations including Daniel Defense, the maker of the AR-style rifle that was used in the shooting, Meta, and Activision Blizzard, the creator of the "Call of Duty" video game franchise. 

As RedState's Margaret Clark reported, the families believe that the game "Call of Duty" had a hand in the shooting as the murderer had played the game "since he was 15." The claim is that the game allowed him to "practice" with the rifle he used at the school. 

I don't want to come off as insensitive to the parents who lost their children on that day, and the thought of some lunatic shooting my defenseless son would be enough to send me on a revenge mission against anyone I thought was involved. I hope I never have to feel that level of grief. 

But with that said, let's be very real about the facts. Guns don't kill people, people kill people, and video games do not inspire real-world violence. 

The latter point is particularly true, and I've debunked this claim multiple times. It's been one made by members of both sides of the aisle, including Joe Biden in 2020. Video games are an easy target because it's the only medium that allows a person to commit extreme acts of violence in all sorts of ways, unlike other mediums which makes you a passive onlooker. As such, many people can't help but perceive it as "practice." 

But it's not. The data consistently shows that video games do not lead to an increase in aggression or a desire to translate in-game acts to real life. 

This is borne out pretty logically just by viewing the size of the gaming community, which consists of 3.32 billion people globally. If even only a small fraction of that number were being indoctrinated to kill people by a video game, you'd know it. The dead would be innumerable. However, the gaming community is largely consisting of peaceful, everyday people just like you and me. Gamers run the gamut of personality types. CEOs and NFL players alike are gamers. 

But let's look further into the data. 

According to Oxford University, multiple studies have found that there is no causal link between violent video games and acts of real-world violence. The study concluded that the connection between aggressive behavior in adolescents and video games was not substantial. What the 2019 Oxford study did find is that video games increased competitiveness, which includes trash-talking and trolling in some cases, but not a desire for violence. 

According to Psychological Science, a 2015 study by researcher Christopher Ferguson also found no evidence that video games led to aggression, and according to Psychology Today, research saw what the Oxford study did in that gaming might lead to temporary moments of frustration and competitiveness, but not a desire for real-world violence. This same conclusion was reached by the City University of London, according to ScienceDaily. 

The Secret Service did its own research on the subject but found that only 14 percent of school shooters enjoyed violent video games. This indicates no real link at all. 

What is connected to mass shootings? 

Mental illness is the largest contributing factor. According to the National Institute of Justice, a whopping 92 percent of students who engaged in K-12 school shootings were suicidal during the act, with shootings involving university students being suicidal 100 percent during them. It also found that mental illness played a primary role in 10 percent of the shootings, and a minor role in one-third of the shootings. 

One study found that among 35 surviving mass shooters, 18 were schizophrenic. Of those who didn't survive, 15 of 20 cases had shooters who were determined to be schizophrenic. 

This is just scratching the surface. There are many reasons people decide to go on murder sprees, but mental illness, past trauma, and suicidality are very common among shooters. 

The idea that video games are a key part of a mass shooting is, frankly, not there in the data. With video games being so common, you're bound to find a console or two in the homes of mass shooters over time, but you're just as likely going to find one in the house next door and the house next to that. 

A video game was not behind the shooting of those children in Uvalde. A psychopath with a buffet of mental health issues was. We need to stop distracting ourselves with ideas that gaming is causing mass shootings, just like we need to stop pushing the idea that a fork is behind everyone being fat or a gun is the motivator behind the shooting, not simply the tool used to accomplish the heinous work. 

Video games are not our enemy, and if I'm being brutally honest, this sounds like an ambulance chaser got into the ear of some grieving people and is taking advantage of them.