At least 30 people died this weekend in two disturbing mass shootings. Bizarrely, some Republicans are responding by talking about video games.

In his Monday morning address, President Trump blamed “violent video games” as a cause of mass shootings for supposedly contributing to a “culture that celebrates violence.” This echoed earlier claims by Republicans such as Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, both of whom blamed the boogeyman of violent video games.

Patrick said “We’ve always had guns. We’ve always had evil. But what’s changed where we see this rash of shooting? I see a video game industry that teaches young people to kill.” And McCarthy concurred : “The idea of these video games, they dehumanize individuals to have a game of shooting individuals and others.”

Their concern is understandable, and there are reasonable concerns to be had about video games and the influence they have on our culture. But the idea that they lead to violence is completely wrong, and has been repeatedly debunked by almost all subject area experts and ample amounts of research. It’s irresponsible for Republican leaders to continue to push a narrative so clearly wrong-headed, and their misdirection only sets back our efforts to find a real solution to gun violence.

Politicians blame video games for the El Paso shooting. It’s an old claim that’s not backed by research. https://t.co/kqnLO74Dir — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 5, 2019

Video games just aren’t the problem.

The New York Times pointed out that in places such as Japan, video game use is rampant, with the majority of the population involved in some form of gaming, but gun violence is almost unheard of. And just this year, research from two Oxford scholars found “confirmatory evidence that violent video game engagement, on balance, is not associated with observable variability in adolescents’ aggressive behaviour.” An older study from the Secret Service found that only roughly 1 in 10 mass shooters had a history of regularly playing violent video games.

And experts confirm that these studies are in line with most research.

As the New York Times summarized , “Media scholars say the claims about video games and violent movies — a common one in the wake of mass shootings — does not hold up to scrutiny.” The liberal paper was also sure to point out that even the famed conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia acknowledged that there’s no link between violent video games and actual aggression. He once wrote that “any demonstrated effects are both small and indistinguishable from effects produced by other media.”

It’s easy to see why there’s no actual connection between video games and mass violence. People watch violent movies and television shows all the time, read horror novels, or yes, play violent video games. But exposure to violence doesn’t turn someone into a killer, if anything, it might do the opposite. I’ve spent years watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and it has opened my eyes to just how horrible sexual violence is — doing the very opposite of promoting it or otherwise encouraging aggression.

So in the aftermath of tragedy, there’s nothing to be gained by blaming false boogeymen. We can have real, serious conversations about the possibly addictive and anti-social effects video games are increasingly having on young men. But responsible dialogue can’t begin until our leaders stop blaming Call of Duty for mass shootings, and open their eyes to the real issues of mental health, missed red flags, and media malpractice actually at hand.