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Lawmakers debate bill to limit video-game access
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Lawmakers debate bill to limit video-game access Friday, January 25, 2002By GRAHAM BLACKSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTEROLYMPIA -- The street rioter knocked the police officer down and clubbed him with an ax handle over and over. In another scene from the video-game demonstration, blood gushed from an officer's shoulder after the player shot him in the back.Lawmakers yesterday watched the four-minute presentation in disgust while discussing a bill that would make it a crime to sell or rent such "cop-killer" games to youths. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, said the restriction is justified by recent research linking violent video games to increased aggressiveness in youths. "There is a real-life connection between these fantasy games and real-life aggression," she said after watching the demonstration of the gory game, Grand Theft Auto 3.She urged legislators on the House Juvenile Justice Committee to support the bill, saying it would help protect police officers. "Every day, our police put on their uniforms and put themselves at risk for us," she said. "I believe that the safety of our police is worth our efforts here."Yet the debate in Olympia seemed irrelevant to a teenager a few miles away in Lacey.At home last night, Robert Jandraau, 14, pulled himself away from his PlayStation to share his feelings on video games. He said he likes to play violent games such as the one raising concerns among lawmakers. He also plays non-violent car-racing games and flight simulators. He can keep his real-life admiration for police and the video violence separate, he said."(Violence) is only in the game. Nobody would dare to shoot a cop," he said. "I always cheer for the cops."The new law would rely on the ratings that video games are given by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, an industry group that screens games and designates them appropriate for certain age groups. The law would prevent minors from obtaining games such as "Grand Theft Auto," rated "mature" for ages 17 and older, without parental permission.Jerry Sheehan of the American Civil Liberties Union said the use of a rating organization in administering a criminal law raises legal questions."You can't have elements of a criminal law determined by some private company's conduct," he said. "That is constitutionally problematic."After watching the demo of the popular video game, a group of police officers expressed outrage and voiced support for efforts to keep such games out of youths' hands."To me, it's unconscionable that video games would ever present police officers as targets," Sgt. Mike Amos of the Yakima Police Department said. He is president of the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, a group that represents about 5,000 officers in this state."This is an affront to every police officer who ever gave his life in the line of duty," said Bill Hanson, the council's executive director.Many stores that sell and rent video games currently use the ESRB's rating system as a guide and won't provide games rated "mature" or "adults only" to minors. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/55836_video25.shtml
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