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Missouri Republican Wants Violent Video Game Tax
New submitter sHr0oMaN writes with news that Diane Franklin, a Republican member of Missouri's state House of Representatives, has proposed a sales tax on violent video games. The proposal, HB0157I, is one of many responses to the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The proceeds from the tax would go toward mental health programs and law enforcement in the hopes that future shootings can be prevented. The total amount taxed would be small — 1% — and would be applied to video games rated Teen, Mature, or Adult-only by the ESRB. Of course, many games earn the "Teen" rating without having violence in them, like Guitar Hero. The Entertainment Software Association responded to Rep. Franklin's bill with a statement: "Taxing First Amendment protected speech based on its content is not only wrong, but will end up costing Missouri taxpayers."
Yes, the U.S. has lots of gun deaths.
This is an acceptable price of having the freedom to own guns.
Just like there is lots of domestic violence. This is the price of the freedom of cohabitation.
There's no problem with violence in America. It's going down. Steadily. For years.
You can drop it even more if you end the drug war.
We like guns. And we hate child murder. Anyone would. But we just don't think we ought to do ANYTHING POSSIBLE to prevent it.
You can't even prevent violence in prisons where ALL your rights are suspended.
Reasonable steps to limit violence are a good thing, but we're already taking them, and THEY WORK.
So chill.