After three days of West Coast fundraising and speeches, President Barack Obama pivoted to lecturing Hollywood executives and employees on gun violence in movies.
“When it comes to issues like gun violence, we got to make sure that we’re not glorifying it because the stories you tell shape our children’s outlook and their lives,” he cautioned a crowd at DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, California.
Vice President Joe Biden had brought together Hollywood industry representatives earlier this year for a gun task force following the aftermath of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut.
President Obama expressed his interest in continuing the dialogue to reduce the amount of violence in movies and video games.
“Those conversations need to continue,” Obama said. “The stories we tell matter and you tell stories more powerfully than anyone else on the Earth.”
President Obama’s lecture on gun violence comes a day after a 48-page report from the Connecticut state attorney’s office finding no links between the gaming activities of Adam Lanza and his violent motive. While the shooter owned some violent games, he was mainly obsessed with playing non-violent games Super Mario Brothers and Dance Dance Revolution.