Culture, Not Guns, Cause Increase In School Shootings: KY Gov.

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin says he is heartbroken over the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida that left 17 people dead and injured 14 others. Not even a month ago, a shooting at a high school in Kentucky left two people dead and injured 17 others.

Bevin, a Republican, told talk radio hosts on Thursday that the community in Florida has been shattered in a similar way that Kentucky was in January. He said guns are not the reason for increase in school shootings, but blamed a culture that delegitimizes life through violent video games, TV shows and music lyrics.

Bevin called video games where people kill others "garbage" and said "it's the same as pornography." He said "freedom of speech" has been abused by allowing things that are "filthy and disgusting and have no redeemable value."

After the shooting in his own state, the Republican governor made similar remarks, saying gun violence was a "cultural problem."

President Donald Trump also talked about the need to change the culture. Trump said during a televised address on Thursday that the country must work together to create a culture that "embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections, and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors." Trump did not mention gun control during his speech.

But students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are talking about gun control and they want to see change.

Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this story.

Photo by Timothy D. Easley, File/Associated Press