California Moves To Restore Ban on Violent Video Games
California still wants to keep violent video games out of the hands of anyone under 18. On Wednesday, Attorney General Jerry Brown and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a state law banning the sale or rental of such games to minors.
The law was stricken in February by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The court said the law could limit minors’ access to information under the guise of child protection.
The law was passed by California legislators in 2005 but was blocked by the video-game industry. Brown and Schwarzenegger compared the ban on violent games to banning pornography.
“I signed this important measure to ensure parents are involved in determining which video games are appropriate for their children,” Schwarzenegger said. “By prohibiting the sale of violent video games to children under the age of 18 and requiring these games to be clearly labeled, this law would allow parents to make better informed decisions for their kids.”
Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, called the petition by Brown and Schwarzenegger “a complete waste of the state’s time and resources.” He said a rating system for video games lets parents supervise the games their children play.
The author of the state law, state Sen. Leland Yee, praised the action by Brown and Schwarzenegger. “California’s violent video-game law properly seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of excessively violent, interactive video games,” he wrote on his Web page.
The law defines a violent video game as one in which “the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being.”
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