Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Defends Violent Video Games

It's no secret that most politicians are against violent video games. Lawmakers in several states are fighting to levy a tax on such games, while even some advocate groups are banding together to try and stop violent video games from getting into the wrong hands. However, one politician in particular, Rep. Nancy Pelosi — the highest-ranking female politician in American history — has come out to defend violent video games, and says that they are not the cause of violence in America.

Pelosi essentially says that there's not enough evidence to support the claim that violent video games cause real-life violence, and she is calling for more scientific research on the connection between popular culture and violence. Pelosi says that in Japan, "they have the most violent games and the lowest death mortality from guns," suggesting that violent video games are not the cause.

Pelosi represents California's 12th congressional district, which consists of most of San Francisco, a haven for video game development, so it's certainly possible that Pelosi has a lot of knowledge on the subject, or she may have just gotten some statistics from biased supporters. Either way, it's nice to see a politician looking the other way on a subject that a majority of other politicians believe in.

In the end, Pelosi says that Japan's low death rate from guns may come from good gun laws, and hints that better gun control is simply what the US needs in order to cut down on the number of deaths from guns. In any case, President Obama's State of the Union address is tomorrow night, and we'll no doubt here more about his plans for gun control during that time.

[via Huffington Post]

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