White House: "Cultural Issues" May Be Part of Gun Violence "Conversations"

White House spokesman Jay Carney left open the possibility that the impact of violence in videogames will be part of the "conversations" that President Obama will have with experts and others following the tragedy in Connecticut.

"One of the reasons why the President wants to expand the net beyond considerations of gun laws is because he recognizes that and agrees with it that we need to look broadly at all of the potential contributors to the scourge of gun violence in this country," Carney said at today's daily press briefing.

He was responding to a question about a Tweet sent Sunday by David Axelrod, senior adviser to his reelection campaign, in which he wrote, "In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot 'em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn't we also quit marketing murder as a game?"

Carney said that he doesn't have "a specific proposal to tell you about, or even that there will be one.  But it's certainly -- he wants to have these conversations with people who have worked on this issue and people who are affected by it to explore all the possibilities, to move forward with a broad approach that addresses gun violence, that includes sensible legislation to deal with things like assault weapons and gun show loopholes, magazine capacity, potentially, as well as other issues -- mental health issues, education issues, and perhaps cultural issues."