Incoming National Rifle Association President Oliver North blamed 'drugged' and over-medicated youth suffering from ADHD as the reason behind school shootings.

'We are trying like the dickens to treat the symptoms, not the disease,' he said Sunday in an interview on Fox News Sunday. 'The disease isn't the Second Amendment. The disease is youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence, they've been drugged in many cases.'

Ten students died Friday after Dimitrios 'Dimitri' Pagourtzis, 17, was named by police as the student gunman who entered an art class at Santa Fe High School and yelled 'Surprise!' before opening fire.

It is unknown if he was on any prescription medication.

Incoming National Rifle Association President Oliver North said prescription drugs like Ritalin are behind the school shootings throughout the U.S.

Friends and family attend a vigil held at the First Bank in Santa Fe, Texas, for the victims of Friday's mass shooting that left 10 students dead.

17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been identified as the suspect in the Santa Fe shooting

Pagourtzis, who was wearing a 'born to kill' t-shirt, stole a shotgun and .38 revolver from his father to pull off the mass shooting in Texas.

An additional 10 students were injured in the attack, which was the 16th school shooting this year.

'Nearly all of these perpetrators are male,' North said.

He also blamed bloody and savage movies for contributing to a 'culture of violence.'

'They've come through a culture where violence is common place. All we need to do is turn on a TV or go to a movie. If you look at what has happened to young people, many of these young boys have been on Ritalin since they've been in kindergarten. I'm certainly not a doctor -- I'm a marine but I can see those kinds of things happening.'

North offered no evidence to back up his claim. But the NRA provided DailyMail.com with several articles that discuss a possible link between psychiatric medications and violence.

There's a one-in-seven chance a boy will be diagnosed with ADHD, Esquire reported in 2014, and that the stimulates prescribed for treatment are associated with 'new or worse aggressive behavior or hostility.'

But a 2014 study from the Treatment Advocacy Center argues differently, concluding that 'a small number of individuals with serious mental illnesses commit acts of violence, including 5 - 10 per cent of all homicides. Almost all of these acts of violence are committed by individuals who are not being treated, and many such individuals are also abusing alcohol or drugs.'

NRA presidents serve on a one-year rotating basis while the real power within the organization stays in executive vice president Wayne LaPierre's hands. The president is largely a figure-head role requiring the office holder to go on TV and defend the pro-gun group and the second amendment.

Past presidents include actor Charlton Heston and conservative activist David Keene.

David Hogg, the outspoken survivor of the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, lashed out on Twitter at politicians for failing to do anything to rein in gun violence in the U.S.

'Get ready for two weeks of media coverage of politicians acting like they give a s--- when in reality they just want to boost their approval ratings before midterms,' he wrote on Friday.

Retired Marine Oliver North became famous for the arms-for-hostages Iran–Contra affair and this 1986 photo of him being sworn in to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Asked about the criticism from Hogg and other Parkland High School students, who lost 17 classmates in the mass shooting at their school, North said it wasn't the kids' fault.

He charged they are being used by billionaire businessmen like Michael Bloomberg and George Soros, who have funded gun control groups, to try and ax the second amendment.

'These kids aren't the problem,' he said on Fox News Sunday. 'They are being used by forces far bigger than they are to make sure the second amendment goes away.'

North is a retired United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, who was convicted in the Iran–Contra affair of the late 1980s. Those convictions were vacated and reversed, and all charges against him dismissed in 1991.

The enduring image of North remains him standing before a congressional committee, in his uniform, hand held up, to be sworn in to testify on the arms-for-hostages affair. He was photographed from below, which made the picture of him looking commanding and larger-than-life.

He hosted War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News from 2001 to 2016.

Students described the chaotic scene inside the Santa Fe High School when Friday's shooting began.

A student, left, reacts after retrieving her belongings inside Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, on Saturday. Students and teachers were allowed to return to parts of the school to gather their belongings after Friday's shooting left 10 students dead.

Ten roses are left in memory of the victims killed in a shooting at the Santa Fe High School.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott greets worshippers as they attend a Sunday mass at Arcadia First Baptist Church in memory of the Santa Fe High School shooting victims.

Shana Fisher, who turned 16 this month, was also in art class when the shooting began.Her mother, Sadie Rodriguez, said Fisher had rejected the shooter's romantic advances a week before the attack."She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him" in class, she said.

'My friend said he saw some kid walking down the hallway with a gun so he pulled the firearm and ran out,' a senior called Tyler Turner told KTRK-TV.

'The teachers told everybody to run after three shots were heard so we all took off and ran into the trees.'

A report on Saturday hinted that the boy was seeking revenge against a teenage girl who rejected his advances.

Shana Fisher, who turned 16 just days before she died in Friday's attack, had been fending off advances from Pagourtzis for months, her mother Sadie Rodriguez said on Saturday.

'He continued to get more aggressive,' Rodriguez said in an interview aired on ABC 7. 'She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him.'

It was the first indication of a motive in the mass shooting although the theory has yet to be confirmed by either prosecutors or lawyers for Pagourtzis.

He allegedly played a Japanese World War II military anthem, yelled 'Woo-hoo!' and sang the Queen hit 'Another One Bites The Dust' in his rampage, the New York Post reported.

Trump weighed in on the massacre as he delivered remarks during the Prison Reform Summit at the White House on Friday, expressing his 'sadness and heartbreak' and saying that his administration is closely monitoring the situation.

'This has been going on too long in our country – too many years, too many decades now,' he said. 'We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support and love to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack to the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High.

'We're with you in this tragic hour and we will be with you forever. My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools, and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others.

'Everyone must work together at every level of government to keep our children safe. May God heal the injured, and may God comfort the wounded, and may God be with the victims and with the victims' families. Very sad day. Very, very sad.'

According to charging documents, Pagourtzis confessed to the shooting and told investigators he had left students he liked alive so he could 'have his story told'.

A junior at Santa Fe High, Pagourtzis hid a shotgun and a handgun under his trenchcoat before opening fire in a first-period art class on Friday, according to an affidavit filed by police.

The shooting unfolded over the course of about 30 minutes in a warren of interconnected classrooms, according to new witness accounts.