http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/video-game-lobby_n_3046533.htmlWASHINGTON -- As President Barack Obama spends his political capital this week in an attempt to advance gun control legislation in Congress, the nation's video game industry has reason to celebrate, albeit quietly.
Nearly four months after Vice President Joe Biden and a half-dozen members of Congress all singled out violent, adult-themed video games as potentially linked to certain types of gun violence, including the Sandy Hook school shooting, three different congressional proposals related to violent entertainment have been effectively shelved. Instead, lawmakers are debating the merits of comprehensive background checks for gun sales, school safety measures and anti-trafficking laws.
The exclusion of violent video games from the legislation being considered on Capitol Hill reflects in part the growing influence of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the video game industry's chief lobbying arm in Washington.
The ESA has spent more than $18 million on lobbying over the past four years. Since the Newtown, Conn., massacre, the trade group has added two more lobbying firms to its payroll, including that of Steve Elmendorf, one of the top Democratic lobbyists in Washington. Elmendorf's firm also recently registered as a lobbyist for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a leading gun control group.
A spokesman for the ESA acknowledged that the beefed-up lobbying has been largely aimed at insulating the industry from the violence prevention debate, but said the group's positions are backed up by science. "What we've been doing since this tragedy is tell the story with the facts," said Rich Taylor, the ESA's senior vice president of communications and industry affairs. Pointing to the "extensive research" looking at possible links between videos and violence, he said, "We've gone out of our way to communicate that to lawmakers, the media and the general public."
It doesn't hurt that the ESA's president, Erik Huey, also has close ties to the Obama administration. Since 2009, Huey appears to have visited the White House 20 times, according to White House visitor logs, which show that he attended meetings with President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and then-White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, among others.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the president remains "committed" to funding research into the causes of real-life violence -- including any possible connection with video games -- but he declined to say whether there were any immediate plans in the works.
