"This is just political posturing for special interests and completely pointless."
That is exactly right. Toss a few bones to the social conservatives and see if they'll bark for you. I predict we'll see a lot more of these articles and efforts in the coming months, trying to energize the authoritarian right to get out to vote.
This is one issue that the authoritarian right (not to be confused with the "religious right", though there is overlap) can agree on with Hillary - it is clear that 'the people' don't know what is good for them and need to be controlled. Maybe throw in a "for the children".
In the light of facts, there is no "crisis" to bemoan.
This data is from U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics. The particular chart is from here.
Superimposed below are a few video game related dates, to give context for the timespan.
All that has increased is media coverage of rarer and rarer events. If it wasn't for pesky things like facts and reality, the authoritarians may actually have a point.