Florida Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla
The Florida Senate committee hearing passed a new bill by a vote of 7-1 aimed at preventing the sale of violent videogames to minors.
florida senatoalex diaz de la portilla
Sponsored by Florida Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Senate Bill 492 is closely modeled on the California AB1179 with provisions for imposing fines for retailers selling violent videogames to minors of up to USD 1000 per infraction. Not only this, the bill would impose government-approved labels on videogames on top of the existing self-regulatory ESRB ratings system.
However, notwithstanding the bill passing the committee hearing, actual implementation of the legislation seems highly unlikely. Entertainment Software Association active opposition to this have resulted in the prevention of similar laws in Indianapolis, Illinois and Michigan. The publicly debated California bill introduced by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was also halted recently, on the grounds of being unconstitutional.
Senator Diaz de la Portilla commenting on the Miami Herald said;
Children don't have the same kind of maturity and experiences as adults do. Left to their own devices, children often do not realise the harm they are causing themselves through the exposure to graphic sexual and violent content found in many of today's video games.On the other had ESA rep Sally Jefferson said;
Video games are protected speech under the First Amendment just like movies, books and television.The ESA is also fighting tooth and nail against Senator Hillary Clinton's Family Entertainment Protection Act, which also closely follows the proposed legislation from various States.
In my opinion, such bills are sheer wastages of time, money and other resources. It has never been established that violent video games have any effect on the behaviour of young people especially the kids who play them. Besides, the ESRB rating system is pretty good and it worked well so far.
Via: GamesIndustry
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