U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander claims that videogames pose a greater threat to American society than guns.

If you ever wondered why so many high-level discussions about gun violence in the U.S. seem to end up talking about videogames, here's a brief snippet of insight courtesy of MSNBC. When asked by The Daily Rundown host Chuck Todd about support for a bill requiring universal background checks on gun buyers, Senator Alexander made a remarkable and completely unrelated statement about the dangers of games.

"I think videogames [sic] is a bigger problem than guns, because videogames affect people," he said. "But the First Amendment limits what we can do about videogames and the Second Amendment to the Constitution limits what we can do about guns."

There's really not much more to say; the man's words speak for themselves. He clearly has an agenda that he's determined to push, but the implication that guns don't affect people, or that an entertainment medium is somehow more dangerous than unfettered access to semi-automatic rifles, is beyond outrageous. It's not necessarily surprising, however; as Polygon points out, Credo Action lists Alexander as one of the National Rifle Association's "A team" of senators that offers "unqualified support" to the NRA.

Source: Daily Kos