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CT State Senator Wants To Ban Kids From Using Arcade Guns

Posted by timothy on from the and-for-the-same-reason dept.

New submitter Nyder writes "In a move that is sure to bring tears to the eyes of kids everywhere, Connecticut State Senator Toni Harp proposed a bill in January that would ban anyone younger than 18 from playing 'violent point-and-shoot' video games in arcades or other public establishments. 'The bill also called for research into the effects of violent video games on young minds, through a committee called the Violent Video Game Task Force within the Department of Children and Families. The task force would advise the Governor and General assembly on state programs that "may reduce the effects of violent video games on youth behavior," suggesting before the research was done that violent video games have an effect on children's actions.' Hopefully this won't pass; I guess the video game lobby hasn't paid this Senator enough 'funds' for her campaign."

14 of 335 comments (clear)

  1. Spring is in the Air by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The birds are chirping, and clueless politicians race to implement laws protecting children from video games and other "immoral" behavior.

    1. Re:Spring is in the Air by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Informative

      American politicians are too afraid of the NRA nutters to ban real guns. So they want to ban toys.

      The NRA has been doing their part to focus attention on the attention in that direction. As saith Wayne LaPierre himself:

      "And here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here’s one: it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?"

      (Incidentally, why is it that people who hate video games apparently only revise their lists of horrifying games every 5-10 years? If you are going for 'timeless classics' where the fuck are 'Doom' and 'Postal'. If you are going for relevant, how about a few of the big console shooters that actually have major audiences? C'mon, guys...)

    2. Re:Spring is in the Air by jythie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That and the people who would actually be impacted by such a law can not vote. The number of voters who are willing to support votes that restrict people who are not like them is generally greater then the number of voters willing to support votes that benefit people who are not like them. Defending others takes more empathy then defending your own, so most people do not bother.

    3. Re:Spring is in the Air by Belial6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or, you could teach your kids how to safely handle guns. Turn guns into something they understand instead of some mystery object that works like a cartoon. That way when your kid runs across one outside of your home, they don't try to see the bullets come out by looking down the barrel. You don't get rid of all your fire toys (like candles) when you have a child. You teach your kid not to play with fire only in controlled conditions like at birthdays. Thinking that you can't teach your kid to respect the dangers of a gun is just silly.

  2. Hey, why not? by hsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They want to ban firearms for purely cosmetic features that make no difference between it and other models, why not? Who said laws have to make sense, they clearly don't with nutter Diane Feinsteins gun bill.

    1. Re:Hey, why not? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah, but the AR-15 was developed by a guy named 'Stoner'. Coincidence, or evidence of the secret violence behind the hippy agenda?

  3. pedophiles by Iamthecheese · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Communists, "gun violence", video games, SARS, terrorists, jesus fucking christ. I can't believe people are actually stupid enough to fall into line for the scare of the day anymore.

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  4. Re:cowboys and indians? by captainpanic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cowboys? No. Emancipation demands you make it gender neutral: Cowperson.
    Indians? No. Native Americans.

    Cowpersons and Native Americans. And you cannot pretend to shoot with a wooden stick anymore. Welcome to the land of the free :-)

  5. Is the elephant in the china shop... by craznar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...invisible or something?

    How on earth can a country be so contradictory?

    --
    EMail: 0110001101100010010000000110001101110010 0110000101111010011011100110000101110010 0010111001100011011011110110
  6. Heh by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Video game guns now more illegal than real ones.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  7. Guns don't kill people ... by wylderide · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... Gun shaped video game controllers kill people.

    --
    This is the best restaurant I ever eat in
  8. What do you offer in trade, Senator? by Jawnn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'll be happy to let you ban violent video games if you and your peers are willing to lighten up about, oh... let's say bare breasts appearing on television. Frankly, I'm beyond tired of the dichotomy, wherein a person's insides, blown all over the place by gunfire/explosions, is fit for all ages, but the naked human form (the outside of it, at least) is not.

  9. Give it a rest Senator by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't think of too many gun related massacres which were the direct result of "violent video games". In fact, most were the result of mentally unstable people coming into possession of a some type of device to cause harm -- not just guns. I think a lot of the tragedies could have been prevented had people close to the murderer(s) taken responsible action, early on, when harmful behavior was exhibited:

    Most people can "Doom away" 24x7 and have no problem separating fantasy from reality. A small portion cannot. That same small portion who cannot will result to whatever means is at their disposal when they become unstable. Banning guns, video games, magazine capacities, does not address the core issue and actually ignores it.

    Role playing is important for healthy mental growth. Video games aid in that role playing for most healthy individuals. Prohibition isn't going to fix anything. Never does.

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    Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
  10. More importantly by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More importantly, lets have a study regarding the effects of the united states having troops in nearly every country on earth, being involved in at least 3 wars simultaneously, and the US military glamorizing their profession through television and news adds. If you want to stop gun violence, stop putting rifles into the hands of teenagers and sending them into 3rd world countries to "keep the peace" I don't think playing Halo or hunting squirls with their dads are having anywhere near the effect of what the US governments planting into their heads about guns and "justified violence"