MA Bill to Ban Minors from Violent Video Games Could Face Obstacles
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Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 03/19/2008
The Massachusetts bill, sponsored by Representative Linda Forry (D-Boston), has the support of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, whose human services director Larry Mayes told the Boston Herald that "Children aged 17 and under should not be sold this stuff" and that violent videos should not "be getting into the hands of 9- and 10-year-olds.”
“Is it going to be an uphill battle?" Mayes added. "Sure. But it’s absolutely a battle that the mayor feels he should take on.”
Uphill may be right. The March 17 ruling in Minnesota marks the second federal strike in that state against a ban on violent video sales to minors. In 2006 Chief U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum ruled that violent games were protected speech. Such rules have been struck down several times by federal judges, according to a Miami-based activist on the topic, Jack Thompson, who blames inept attorneys general and who says he crusades on the issue because kids in libraries can easily buy and download the ultra-violent Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto games.
The subject of video games is clearly an emotional one. "I live in a city, and for all its goods and bads, I've been very turned off by the violence I have seen, especially among the junior high children going back and forth in front of my house—and the way they treat the girls," says Representative Christine Canavan (D-Brockton), a cosponsor of Forry's Massachusetts bill. A hearing was held on March 18 to discuss the proposed bill.
Canavan points to a number of cases in which kids have committed crimes they’ve witnessed in video games, often those that target women. Whether the medium is music or TV, the legislator says, "the tendency is to use verbal or physical abuse against women as entertainment." And "young girls are accepting of this behavior, believing it's the norm."
The video industry—whose lawsuit against Minnesota led to the federal rulings—opposes any age limitation on its products. The Web site of the Entertainment Consumers Association this week posted an "alert" about the Massachusetts hearing.
The site also pointed to statistics in which the association said that the average gamer is 33, the age of the average purchaser is 38, and that only 31 percent of gamers are under 18 while 25 percent are over 50.
