Schwarzenegger appeals ruling on video game law

California governor challenges federal ruling, arguing that kids should be protected from the effects of violent games.

The story "Schwarzenegger appeals ruling on video game law" published September 5, 2007 at 4:14 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[unknown unknown]

What he forgets when mentioning those studies...

is that there also studies that say violent games don't lead to violent behavior. They have yet to establish causal link.

[spm82]

Causal Link

While I completely agree with you about the lack of a link between videogame violence and acts of violence among children, I do think that more pressure needs to be put on retailers to honor the ESRB ratings as well as MPAA ratings which influenced them. Normally I'm all for less government involvement, but too many parents use television and videogames as a babysitter without any knowledge of what their children get their hands on. If the small extra effort is made to educate parents on what type of media their kids are interested in, it may just spur a little extra interest in their lives in general.

[imacpwr]

Unconstitutional...?!?!?!

Tell me please which amendment to the Constitution guaranties
minors the right to bear (video game) arms...????

[Belinus]

A Better Question

Where in the Constitution does it say that parents are absolved of responsibility for raising their children?

[maverick_nick]

I'll Be Back

Let's say this law gets passed and minors aren't allowed to buy violent video games. How often do you think minors buy video games anyway? I mean when I was a kid, I'd just ask my parents for something and they'd buy it for me (if I was lucky). So at the end of the day, if the parents aren't educated enough about the content of video games, kids will still be playing ultra-violent video games.

This is frivolous, and just another excuse for bad parenting.

[frankz00]

Do You Know How Many Schwarzenegger Flicks I Watched As A Kid???

Dozens!!! What a friggin hypocrite!!!

[Jim Harmon]

Not a hypocrite

Arnie is saying games are far worse than movies. This stance absolves him of any responsibility for creating warped minds in minors. Denying personal responsibility is not only the new American way, it's almost expected from politicians.

Not that I agree with this "seeing violence creates violent behavior" crap.

[umbrae]

WHAT?

"We protect our children from buying inappropriate movies and ought to be able to protect them from buying inappropriate video games as well," he said.

There is no law that prevents this. No law at all. Maybe for porn, but the Games in question are not pornographic and would be covered under existing laws.

[Leria]

What effects?

What effects is Mr. Schwarzenegger referring to? Every single 'effect' that the conservative right and extreme left has tried to link to children seeing violence (except in real life!) has been debunked as not coming from that.

More often, it comes from the parents of said children never telling their children that violence against people is UNACCEPTABLE, period and done with, for any reason, even in wars (which should be declared illegal and the starting of them an executable offense).

I swear, I played Doom when I was growing up, watched Friday the 13th movies and Freddy Krueger movies, and I am very NON-violent, with a long fuse except when it comes to my parents.

[ElmoKajaky]

Arnie and Hillary...

...lose a great deal of respect as far as I'm concerned whenever they use video games as a political football. The ESRB is already doing more than enough in this area. The rest is up to parents. Leave video games alone!