SEATTLE -- In an effort to protect kids from violent imagery and the rest of us from violent kids, the state of Washington is prepared to make it illegal for stores to give youngsters access to interactive images of mayhem.
A bill that restricts the sale or rental of some violent video and computer games to adults-only customers passed unanimously in both the state House and Senate. Gov. Gary Locke is expected to sign the measure this week.
If he does, legal experts who are debating the law's constitutionality say it will mark the first time a state has made it a crime to sell violent video games to people under the age of 17 years old. Store clerks and owners who break the law could face fines up to $500 per incident.
"Everyone in games in Seattle has been talking about this bill," said Mark Long, president of Zombie Studios, a Seattle video-game design house that has produced several military-style action-adventure games, including the Spec Ops series, Rainbow Six: Covert Ops Essentials and the Eckes vs Sever movie tie-in game.
"I don't oppose the bill, I endorse it -- since it's not outlawing the design and development of games that may be judged violent," Long said, "but rather the sale or rental of games rated Mature (17 or older) or with a content descriptor of Violence (aggressive conflict)."
Several groups have asked Gov. Locke to veto the bill on First Amendment grounds. The Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Media Coalition (which represents publishers, bookstores, librarians and magazine distributors, as well as recording, movie and video-game manufacturers and retailers) and the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association argue the legislation represents an attack on freedom of speech.
"It will be a complete waste of taxpayers' funds to have it become law," said Jerry Sheehan, legislative director for the ACLU chapter. He said it is "virtually certain that it will be challenged in the courts" and that federal courts of appeals elsewhere in the country have found similar efforts unconstitutional in the past few years. |
