The VP of Sandbox Gaming, a local organization formed to promote gaming and raise funds for local causes, is weighing in on safety concerns related to online gaming.

The RNC believes the violent extremist group 764 recently contacted a local child through the popular gaming platform Roblox.

The group is known to contact children and young people, and once trust is established, have them move to unmonitored messaging apps. Children are then coerced to hurt themselves or pets, or even kill themselves.

Garreth McGrath says gaming can be good fun, but there are risks involved.

He says online extremism and radicalization is nothing new, but what is new is the age range of the children being targeted – in this case, typically kids between the ages of 9 and 12.

McGrath says people shouldn’t be scared to game online, but parents should be “in the loop” when it comes to a child’s interactions online.

McGrath says he finds the federal push regarding online safety counter-intuitive.

He says there is a push federally to have people use IDs and their real names on the internet. He says that’s contrary to common internet safety practice used for the last couple of decades which was to remain anonymous, and that people not know your name or where you live.