A lawyer for the maker of the video game Call of Duty argued Friday that a judge should dismiss a lawsuit brought by families of the victims of the Robb elementary school attack in Uvalde, Texas, saying the contents of the war game are protected by the first amendment.
The families sued Call of Duty maker Activision and Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, saying that the companies bear responsibility for products used by the teenage gunman.
Three sets of parents who lost children in the shooting were in the audience at the Los Angeles hearing.
Activision lawyer Bethany Kristovich told superior court Judge William Highberger that the “first amendment bars their claims, period full stop”.
“The issues of gun violence are incredibly difficult,” Kristovich said. “The evidence in this case is not.”
She argued that the case has little chance of prevailing if it continues, because courts have repeatedly held that “creators of artistic works, whether they be books, music, movies, TV or video games, cannot be held legally liable for the acts of their audience”.
The lawsuit, one of many involving Uvalde families, was filed last year on the second anniversary of one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers. Officers finally confronted and shot him after waiting more than an hour to enter the fourth-grade classroom.
At the hearing, the families’ attorney, Josh Koskoff, showed contracts and correspondence between executives at Activision and gun-makers whose products, he said, are clearly and exactly depicted in the game despite brand names not appearing.
He said the shooter experienced “the absorption and the loss of self in Call of Duty”.
Koskoff said that immersion was so deep that the shooter searched online for how to obtain an armored suit that he didn’t know only exists in the game.
Koskoff played a Call of Duty clip, with a first-person shooter gunning down opponents.
The shots echoed loudly in the courtroom, and several people in the audience slowly shook their heads.
Family lawyers are expected to argue the first amendment issues of the Activision case later Friday.
Highberger told the lawyers he wasn’t leaning in either direction before the hearing, and it is unlikely he will issue a ruling immediately.
Meta was not involved in this hearing or the motion being argued.