Massachussets video game ban
Now the legislators of Massachusetts are trying to ban violent video games from being sold to minors. This would “Teen” rated video games that include violence.
“This Massachusetts bill would be based on anti-game attorney Jack Thompson’s unsuccessful strategy that seeks to define violent games as “harmful to minors” in the same manner as pornography. It’s also made to hopefully stop the rise in gangs and street violence.
Lynne Lyman, a spokesperson for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, told Game politics that the Massachusetts legislation was patterned after a video game bill then under consideration in Utah. Massachusetts officials, at that time at least, felt the Utah measure had the best chance to succeed.
As events would later prove, the Utah bill failed when the legislature concluded it was not likely to withstand legal challenge. Thompson’s Louisiana video game law had already been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in November 2006.
Despite the setbacks experienced by similar measures, the Massachusetts bill, HB 1423, has now been placed before the State House. No less than 21 individuals are listed as sponsors, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, whose office initiated the push for the legislation. Menino was also a key figure in last year’s move to ban ads for M-rated games on public transit in Massachusetts.” (Game Politics)
Even though I don’t live in Massachusetts, I think that any ban like this to occur in any state is wrong. Not every single young person who plays video games with violent suggestions suddenly turn into gang-bangers. The parents are the ones who should conclude if their children are mature enough to play these games, not the state. I believe that in the end, if a young person who is mature enough too play these games and not become obsessed with violence in the real world should be able to get these games, with their parents consent.