California Game Law Killed
A law that would prevent the sale or rental of some video games to minors was killed by a federal court judge in California. Assembly Bill 1179 was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 and was to take effect January 2006.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte agreed that the law was an unconstitutional breach of the 1st Amendment. The judge cited the vague definition of what constituted a “violent videogame” and that the wording was too broad.
Some of the wording was as follows:
“the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being.”
The bill went into much more detailed specifics acts and types of violence.
This case demonstrates the continuing efforts of “concerned parents” to censor their homes for them. Where it used to be the responsibility of parents to control what their children had access to, it is now apparently up to corporations to make up for their lack of time and concern to look after their children. Luckily there are judges who would rather see our freedom lay untouched than limit what companies can create for any audience which willingly takes it into their homes.
