Supreme Court strikes down California video game law

[Sefket]

SOURCE

They shouldn't be banned. It's up to the parents if they want to buy the games for their children.

The Supreme Court today ruled 7-2 that a 2005 California law which would have banned selling violent video games to children went too far. It’s the latest - and most high-profile - defeat for politicians seeking to restrict the sale of violent video games.

Created by California state Senator Leland Yee, the law sought to restrict the sale of certain kinds of violent video games to children without parental supervision. Retailers found in violation of the law would have been fined up to $1,000 per infraction. The law was enacted in 2005 but was never put into effect.

The majority of video game resellers in the United States - including major retailers like GameStop and Best Buy - support the use of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s (ESRB) classification system, which rates games based on content and applies an age rating, which is featured on the video game box. It’s a purely voluntary system modeled after the Motion Picture Association of America’s ratings for movies.

As the plaintiff in the case, ultimately known as Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the Video Software Dealers Association - now the Electronic Merchants Association - argued successfully to lower courts that the law was too broad in its application and failed to pass muster with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and that an existing system was already in place which effectively restricted sales - the ESRB ratings system.

Other states have tried to put in place laws restricting the sales of violent video games to minors. In each and every case that’s made it to federal court, the laws have been overturned on First Amendment grounds. This is the first such case to be ruled on by the Supreme Court, however.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia called California’s law “seriously overinclusive because it abridges the First Amendment rights of young people whose parents…think violent video games are a harmless pastime.”

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, “The First Amendment does not disable government from helping parents make such a choice here — a choice not to have their children buy extremely violent, interactive games.”

Speaking on behalf of the Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA), Jennifer Mercurio, VP & General Counsel, said, “We had hoped that we would see this decision, and it’s been a long time coming. That being said, there will probably be one or two legislators who attempt to test these new parameters, and the ECA will continue to fight for the rights of entertainment consumers.”

Senator Yee’s office had not issued a statement as this article was posted.

[Devilz]

Totally agreed

[Steroids]

games games games idc yank.

[Blitz]

Not bothering to read it, doesn't affect me.

[Casey`]

I live not there

[FearMy Def]

gf americans

[Soap]

games games games idc yank.

[Marc|Criti]

postal 3 here i come?