President Trump will meet with representatives of the video-game industry at the White House next week to discuss the violent content of some games.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced the meeting Thursday, although some major video-game executives have said they received no such invitation. The Entertainment Software Association, which represents video-game companies, said on Thursday they have heard nothing about a meeting.
The president met with lawmakers Wednesday to discuss school safety after the Parkland school shooting that killed 17 on Valentine’s Day. During the discussion he referenced the violence in some video games, suggesting it may be linked to violent criminal behavior committed by young people such as the Parkland shooter.
Trump mentioned his 11-year-old son Barron in the meeting with Democratic and Republican congressmen.
“The video games, the movies, the internet stuff is so violent, it’s so incredible,” he said.“I have a young, very young son, and I look at some of the things he’s watching and I say, ‘How is that possible?’ And this is what kids are watching.”
President Obama tried unsuccessfully in 2013 to get Congress to set aside $10 million for research on any link between violence in media and gun violence.
Although Trump was known to toe the line for the NRA on gun-control policy, he broke with the gun lobby this week by expressing support for an assault-weapons ban and raising the age for buying an assault rifle from 18 to 21, among other policies.
“Some of you are petrified of the NRA,” Trump told lawmakers, assuring them the organization wants to do “the right thing.”
After Trump’s meeting with the National Rifle Association on Thursday, however, the White House softened on support for gun control measures. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump knows there is “not a lot of broad support” for raising the age to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21.
“I think he thinks it would probably have more potential in the states than it would at the federal level,” Sanders told reporters.
She added that the president might not support universal background checks but “certainly improving the background check system.” The press secretary promised Trump will “continue to support the Second Amendment.”