New Bill Would Restrict Sale of Video Games to Minors

RobinH writes: "According to this article at MSN, "A bill introduced in Congress last week would make it a federal crime to sell or rent violent video games to minors," and it "would apply to games that feature decapitation, amputation, killing of humans with lethal weapons or through hand-to-hand combat, rape, car-jackings, aggravated assault and other violent felonies." We know that sometimes kids who are never exposed to alcohol until they are 19 or 21 can go way overboard the first time... is there a possibility of the same thing happening with violent video games?" Here's CNN's story as well.

O&A

[Guns n' Roses Troll]

Opie & Anthony, along with little Jimmy Norton, dictate my values system.

repeat

[The Turd Report]

Didn't we cover this yesterday? And several times in the past?

Related story

[EyesWideOpen]

There's a related story here [slashdot.org] which mentions a Salon article about a Missouri judge who overruled a request for dismissal of an ordinance that would require kids under 17 to have parental consent before buying violent or sexually explicit video games.

Constitutionality of such a Federal Law

[Mr.Happy3050]

Ok, here's a quick lesson in Con. Law. Most likely Congress is using it's broad power to regulate commerce Article I Section 8 Clause 3. Congress has used its Commerce power from every thing to commerce regulation to teh 1964 Civil Rights Act. Now, you're probably asking yourself, "what does violent videogames have to do with commerce?" Good question. I won't bore you with the history In Morrison v. Lopez, the Supreme Court held that a Federal Law that made it illegal to possess guns in schoolyards. The Court said that there is nothing commericial about guns in schools; Congress didn't do enough fact-finding to support the law under it's Commerce power. That was 1995. If this bill is passed, and depending on the amount of Congressional Factfinding, the law could be struck down. Let's just hope that Congress hasn't learned it's lesson from Lopez. For more on the Congress's Commerce Clause power or Constituttional Law in general, a good treatise is "Understanding Constititional Law" by Erwin Chemerinsky. It saved my butt in my Con Law final this semester.

Re:Good idea...

[mpe]

Frankly, I don't buy the "interstate commerce clause" argument in the bill. The ICC was not meant to be a catch-all loophole for the Fed to pass any damn law it wants on the basis that it MIGHT affect interstate trade.

Also there is a specific part of the US Constitution which should close any such loophole. That being the 10th ammendment.

Whats wrong with the current ratings?

[racerx509]

I"ve got a simple solution that may get me modded down, but here goes. How about making a law that adheres to the rating system that already exists. Instead of outlawing youngsters from buying games, card those who are buying an MA game. MA games require you to be 17, so you get the 17+ demographic thats so important. If 16 year olds want it, have them ask their parents. For Teen games, its like a PG-13 movie. That gives you all the 13+ demographic. For E games or KA, you don't really have to card. These things are pretty simple folks. We don't have to re-invent the wheel here. To be honest, I don't think it needs any kind of legislation, but to the religious right who are so determined to control everything, just look at the situation for a second and come up with something sane.