America has once again been shaken by a series of tragedies around the country. The tragedies I am talking about of course are mass shootings. In the past six days, there have been at least three mass shootings: one at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, another one in the downtown area of Dayton, Ohio, and a third at a Walmart in Southaven, Mississippi — just five miles from where I live. Predictably so, many are mourning the lives lost while the debate about current gun laws resurfaces.

As the Democrats and Republicans continue arguing about the politics of this hot-button topic, mental illness, racism, and the access to firearms have unsurprisingly come up in conversations. The El Paso shooter wrote anti-immigrant rhetoric in his manifesto, making it clear that he had racist intentions.

However, that hasn't stopped various politicians, including President Donald Trump, from pointing their fingers at — once again — violence in video games.

There have been many studies by psychologists everywhere that have concluded that there is no causal link between video game violence and real-life violence, and that's not to mention the fact video games have become a major part in many children's lives. At a young age, kids tend to start with friendly games franchises like Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, or The Legend of Zelda. Over time, kids mature to teenagers and began to explore more mature content with games that involve violence and gore (every gamer has at least one game that comes to mind).

Here's the thing, though: what kids love enjoy about these video games is not necessarily the violence but a component of which violence serves the stories they hold. It is supposed to generate tension in the story. However, some people are too quick to draw the conclusion that video games are created to glorify violence when the purpose is only open doors to the players' imaginations.

Secondly, in case it needs to be said, there is no similarity between the violence in video games and violence in real life. Shooting "people" created with computer-generated graphics has no resemblance to shooting people made of flesh and blood.

People have a moral duty to value the lives of others and understand the physical and emotional damage inflicted on families when they lose a loved one to senseless violence. Yes, a small number of violent people cannot distinguish between fiction and reality. However, video games are not at fault for these people's loose grip on the division between fantasy and reality.

Lastly, the biggest video game market is not in the United States but in Japan, the home of various video game companies like Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Konami, and Capcom, to name a few. Yet the amount of gun violence in that country is significantly less than ours. In this case, there has to be something going on in America that is not going on in Japan. That's why it's time to retire the argument video game violence causes gun violence.

We need to look deeper into the issue which includes examining our gun laws as well as the psychological status of the perpetrators of these horrific acts. But for the theory that video games cause gun violence, it's game over.