'Fox & Friends' co-hosts link 'video games,' 'parenting' to recent mass shootings: 'There's so many different factors'

After mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas rocked the country over the weekend, the co-hosts of Fox & Friends joined that national conversation around what could have incited the violence.

Citing a Sunday Fox News interview with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the hosts appeared to agree with Patrick’s assessment that violent video games could be to blame. “When you see it through a screen and you don't relate to it in person, it makes it seem like it's more accessible,” noted guest co-host Pete Hegseth, himself a combat veteran.

Co-host Ainsley Earhardt said, “It could be the video games.” Hegseth added, “Parenting,” to which Earhardt replied, “I believe you go grow up, you go to church on Sundays. That teaches you to have fear of God and have good morals. There are so many different factors. You don’t know. Maybe a child is born with mental illness.” Fellow panelist Steve Doocy noted, “It does come back to that a lot.”

Viewers on Twitter were split, with many expressing that they felt the co-hosts’ speculation missed the mark:

Others felt the co-hosts got it right with their speculation and that video games and parenting could be to blame, and one said mental illness isn’t a factor at all:

Sara Gilbert says goodbye to “The Talk” with an emotional farewell:

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