ACLU against game regulation bill in Connecticut
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer opposes bill that would ban children from playing point-and-shoot games in public places.
A lawyer representing the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut has opposed a video game regulation bill that would restrict access to certain games in the state.
As reported by the Hartford Courant, ACLU lawyer David McGuire voiced his opposition for the bill during a public hearing this week, citing the landmark 2011 Supreme Court decision as precedent.
He argued that there is no causal link between violent games and real-world violence and that games are protected free speech, similar to movies and books.
The proposed bill would restrict those under 18 in Connecticut from playing point-and-shoot games in public spaces, such as arcades and movie theaters. The legislation would also create a task force to examine the effects of violent games on those who play them.
McGuire was met with opposition during the hearing. State representative Whit Betts (R-Bristol) said the Supreme Court's decision was misguided. "I know what the law says, but to me, it lacks common sense," he said.
Video games have been a much-discussed topic for lawmakers since the December 14 schoolhouse massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and six adults dead.
A recent Harris Poll found that 58 percent of American adults believe video games contribute to real-world violence. On top of that, former Federal Bureau of Investigation profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole said recently that violent video games do not cause violence.
Parents Television Council president Tim Winter agreed that video games do not--by themselves--cause violence. However, he argued the topic is especially important to address today, when media has become a 24/7 activity for children.
President Obama recently announced a $500 million, 23-point plan that directs the Centers for Disease Control to conduct further research into the relationship between virtual violence and real-world violence. Separately, Utah representative Jim Matheson has introduced a bill to Congress that would make Entertainment Software Rating Board ratings legally enforceable.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
78 comments
How about a study that will research the link between the gun culture and real world violence?
This is just another example of pro-gun spin trying to divert the attention from the actual matter, guns.
Why would children be playing games for over 17's (is it over 17 in the US?) let alone in public places? (Max Payne 3 and Sniper V2 are adult rated).
Shouldn't this be the issue being raised for the parents to mull over, while standing in a Wallmart queue waiting to buy Junior a shiny new rifle?
2 Like So it OK to limit underage kids from playing violent games in public but It's not OK to deny them access to the gun range?!
"use real guns all you want but don't touch the virtual ones".
@frankblack789 yea and take our rights away next? You are as much of a troll as they are if you agree with this. It's not gonna make a difference you know, soon enough, the government will try to control everything. Someone else put up here that this isn't "the land of the free" anymore. Think on that for a moment, fool!
3 Like @frankblack789 Hold on, your saying you WANT the government getting into peoples personal business when they have absolutely no right to and censoring what is protected by free speech? Please Christ tell me your joking.
Geez! Are they done with this nonsense? Violent games don't make gamers violent. There's no such study proving that. They should focus on mental health and gun restrictions by now. Even though it may help with educating people who never heard of videogames, more impotant subjects for Conneticut, Sandy Hook school shooting seriously needs to address. Including the second amendment which is now a double edged sword. If only they got the guts to deal with the root problem and not use videogames and media as a distraction.
Hold your motherhugging horses!!! We haven't seen any valid researched study or evidence indicate that playing violent games is the main factor to provoke violent behavior yet.
It's inappropriate for a state representative to voice his disagreement with a Surpeme Court ruling during an official hearing. His official duty as a lawmaker demands that he upholds the US Constitution and by extension the Supreme Court's decisions on its interpretation as the foremost legal authority of the land. His personal objections in this matter are irrelevant. If he cannot work within the system, he should feel free to resign his post.
7 Like Self important politicians seeking a feel good moment of banning something they think will help society. Meanwhile punishing hundreds of millions of law abiding citizens who never did anything wrong. That is all this is. The government will come for your games, your guns, your free speach, and your privacy all in the name of "helping the children." Don't fall for it, they are trying to control everything you do because they think you are too stupid to make decisions on your own. "Land of the free" no more, not unless people wake up and take their country back.
7 Like If someone is a mentalist they will kill no matter what they've played/done. They may kill with an uzi (COD), a machete (Dead Island) or a yellow ball (Pacman), but they'll do it. Am I making light of a serious subject? No. If someone wants/has to to kill, they will. Games won't be the trigger - in fact if anything, they may provide relief and PREVENT an actual incident. Did any of them look at it that way?
I'd be curious to see how they plan on enforcing this? They aren't going to ID everyone who wants to play an arcade game...
@Ratatoskr321 don't be so surprised if they start checking ID's outside the door of the arcades. Moreover if this passes and your not with a parent/guardian there you cant be let in. Imagine seeing arcades treated like bars and strip clubs..
5 Like How stupid our country is getting. I can't believe we are treated like idiots by congress and senate.
@CaptainGamespot It's always been that way. This is nothing compared to the censorship the film industry went through for thirty years! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code
@CaptainGamespot Its up to "all of us" to allow politicians to chip away at our 2nd Amendment Rights. If they are allowed to do that, then ALL the other Amendments in the Constitution are fair game to chip away at, change, or remove...
@icekula @CaptainGamespot All the ammendments have always been fair game to chip away at, change, or remove. As is the constitution itself.
@icekula @Zloth2 @CaptainGamespot Yeah, because your AK-47 is great at stopping tanks and jets. If the military decides the constitution needs to go then this nation is DONE.
@Zloth2 @icekula @CaptainGamespot Not if the second amendment remains intact. its impossible for a government to suppress an armed society. its reason why freedom of speech is #1 and the right to bear arms is #2. Just look a Stalin in WWII, the first thing he did after the war was remove guns from the people in order to control & suppress his society.
1 Like Keep fighting the fight against those fascist tards in the Government! Those government f***s all need to be exiled to a country that embraces communism since they love it so much. Hope they die!
i wonder why gamespot always put an image of max payne 3 in this sorts of news??' i find that game barely violent.........( i loved it)
3 Like So, according to professional politicians in Little California ... errr I mean Connecticut, one of my fond memories with my older son, putting a ton of tokens into the Jurassic Park shooting game at Chuck-E-Cheese, and playing it til we beat it (approx $20 worth of tokens... my son was 7 at the time, and a fairly bad aim)... would be criminal activity?? REALLY? So you'll tell parents how what games their kids can enjoy, tell parents what foods to feed their kids, and tell parents what school their kid has to go to, that's ok, too? right? What role do parents have, exactly, in raising their kids? Are parents now just government liaisons, there when the government can't be? Thank God, Krishna, Zeus, Odin, and Jerry Seinfeld for a few intelligent, rational lawyers on the ACLU who aren't bought and paid for by the various political machines, and are willing to stick their necks out against big government control and preserve human rights for HUMANS.
@tmarbleii virtual duck hunting must be bad too, since that is 'point and shoot'. BAN IT NOW!
2 Like LMAO... This representative says they know what the SUPREME COURTS RULING IS, but because they disagree with it, they're just gonna ignore it. Good example to set there rep. So if I disagree with a law, I'm just gonna do as I please also.
I couldn't take a guy named Whit Betts very seriously though. Sounds like Connecticut is pulling there representatives right out of the woods.
I live in Connecticut. Anyone who has an opinion about guns and what should be regulated and banned needs to check this out! www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=8C-CLsMRcA0
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2 Like @Suikogaiden Worse than Hoover, worse than Nixon? Your comment is hyperbole. I'll give you a moment to crawl back under the bridge
1 Like @SkamArtist @Suikogaiden Other than covering up questionable activities by party underlings, Nixon wasn't that bad... he was very popular, and politically strong... Hoover, was trouble, but not nearly as bad as Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom I still believe was one of the worst Presidents ever. GWB was no worse than Lincoln with ignoring the constitution and doing whatever he felt he needed to do (Yes, Lincoln gave the constitution, democracy, and freedom of the press a big "F-U" several times)... Is Obama perfect? No. Is he Satan-reborn? No. It's not the President that makes the country succeed or fail, BUSINESSES ran buy people who OWN the politicians make the country succeed or fail. We're just going along for the ride.
@tmarbleii @SkamArtist @Suikogaiden The difference between Presidents like Bush and Presidents like FDR and Lincoln was that Lincoln and FDR did not screw up the country during their Presidencies, heck they save the damn country. Yeah they did break the constitution, but at least they didn't drive the economy into the ground.
2 Like @tmarbleii @SkamArtist @Suikogaiden "Hoover, was trouble, but not nearly as bad as Franklin D. Roosevelt"
FDR.....a bad president....the man who took office in the great desperation and the worst war in history was taking part over seas..... and got america though both and in the process became the worlds greatest super power
and FDR is a bad president....
4 Like *Standing on Soapbox* Our country was built from violence. It is part of our culture. It's in our DNA. It would take another 10 generations to reverse what is now the result of our infatuation with violence. Everything from movies to our country's #1 sport is violent. News outlets love to report on violent news because we watch. THINK ABOUT THIS: Most people will let their child watch the violent scenes of a movie, but when a sexual scene shows up we cover their eyes. SMH
And they always go back to video games. This is deeper than video games. Video games have always been traditionally violent. Even in Pac-Man you "eat" the ghost or the game is over when Pac-Man "dies". *Stepping off Soapbox*
@adroge1 Not that far off... I've seen polls, studies, and other "evidence" that supports your findings... such as the following (exact numbers may be off by one or two, as I'm citing memory) the percentage of american people who couldn't find the USA on a map was in the 60's. The percentage of Americans who pee in the shower was in the 70's. The percentage of American's who believe the bible to be the absolute, unquestionable word of God, but have never read it cover to cover? ... 92%... Yup... Ain't that America... little pink houses, for you and me...
@adroge1 Who let there kids play NC-17 rated games when there under age! Why not let them watch porno videos also?...
5 Like So that 500 mil to the CDC couldn't be used for more important research..like...I don't know... Cancer, Aids, ALS (Lou Gehrig), MS, Dementia,..must I go on?
Yes because removing point-and-shoot games in public will end all violence Connecticut the very next day. Also, if you crap on the sidewalk during a rainstorm when the temperature hits 55 degrees, it will instantly materialize into a bar of gold.
The ACLU? Yee gads... I can't stand those people. They manage to get their hands into everything, and most of the time, they are on the wrong side.
@EliOli Dude, they said they are AGAINST game regulation. They said "there is no causal link between violent games and real-world violence, and that games are protected free speech, similar to movies and books."
Are you for or against game regulation?
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