The International Game Developers Association is taking no prisoners in the conversation surrounding video games and gun violence in America.

Taking to Twitter, the organisation said there is no relationship between the two, going on to say that it refused to be a scapegoat for gun violence.

Furthermore, IGDA asserts video games' position as art, and therefore protected under free speech laws. It also refutes the stereotypes about who gamers are, i.e. "disaffected teenage boys", pointing out that 41 per cent of the 150m video game fans in the US are in fact women. More women over the age of 35 play games than boys under the age of 18, too.

If that wasn't enough, IGDA also pointed out that games aren't a US-specific item, but America is unique in its issues with gun violence.

"Overwhelmingly, [gamers are] law-abiding citizens who agree with the majority of Americans who support reasonable gun control measures like stronger background checks, banning bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, and a minimum purchase age of 21 for all firearms," the organisation wrote.

"Making video games, or any form of media-a scapegoat for consistently refusing to even CONSIDER the reasonable, rational firearm restrictions Americans want and deserve isn't fooling anyone."

This news comes after American president Donald Trump said that violent media, such as video games and films, were to blame for gun crime in the country.

Representatives of the video games industry, including the ESA and top publishers, are meeting with Trump today (March 8th) to discuss this very issue. This follows the White House press secretary saying such a meeting was happening, without anyone being invited.