Central Interference: California Argues for Limited Access to Violent Games

California State Senator Leland Yee has recently submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States a new set of arguments for the controversial law that would ban the sale of age restricted video games to minors. The Supreme Court is set to provide a ruling in the case of Schwarzenegger versus Entertainment Merchants Associations that would decide if the law is breaching the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The EMA had some hope after the Supreme Court ruled in another recent case that banning the distribution of content depicting animal cruelty was illegal. Yee argued that the law that was voided in the process was not focused enough to pass unscathed through the scrutiny of the court. Game Politics reports that Yee stated that, “Clearly, the justices want to look specifically at our narrowly tailored law that simply limits sales of ultra-violent games to kids without prohibiting speech.”

His argument is that the law is meant to help parents better protect their kids from violent entertainment that could cause long-term psychological damage. “We need to help empower parents with the ultimate decision over whether or not their children play in a world of violence and murder. The video game industry should not be allowed to put their profit margins over the rights of parents and the well-being of children,” he said.

The main part of the argument tries to establish a connection between violent video games and other kinds of adult material that are currently banned from being sold to children under age. Excessive violence should be considered as obscene as any other type of adult oriented content and should be treated accordingly by the state. A decision about this case should come from the Supreme Court later this year.

It is worth remembering that, at this moment, the video game industry has a self-regulating body that ensures the clear rating of titles that include excessive violence. Furthermore, stores that sell these kinds of materials already ask for identification when a child is attempting to buy this kind of content and do not allow them to buy games rated above their age.