Oklahoma Politicians Decide Some Videogames are "Harmful to Minors"

WEDNESDAY APRIL 26 2006 1:00 PM

Submitted by WilWheaton. Edited By Rahodeb.

Proving once again that government totally knows what's best for everyone, the Oklahoma State Senate has unanimously passed a bill which would equate "violent video games" with hardcore pornography.

HB3004 seeks to amend an existing Oklahoma statute, and redefine what is considered "harmful to minors." Authored by State Rep. Fred Morgan (R), the bill would add "inappropriate violence" to the statute. In the actual wording of the bill, "harmful to minors" means: "the material or performance lacks serious literary, scientific, medical, artistic, or political value for minors."

Well. that's awesome. I'm so glad a bunch of politicians sitting in Oklahoma City have decided that they are the arbiters of decency for everyone in their state, including all the adults.

The effect of this legislation, if passed, would mean the Oklahoma government could designate certain games "inappropriate," and the games would then be treated like pornography—meaning it would be illegal for retailers to sell the game to minors. What makes the Oklahoma Senate's unanimous decision particularly significant is that similar bills in other states have been killed time and time again, because of the same vague wording of HB3004's definitions of "inappropriate."

Virtually everyone can agree that there are games which are clearly inappropriate for children, but that's what ratings and parents are for. Why is it that Republican lawmakers are gung-ho for personal responsibility and government abstinence when it comes to healthcare, welfare, and minimum-wage laws, but they can't vote "aye" fast enough when it comes to intrusively legislating morality?

If this bill becomes law, it will be a crime to sell a "harmful" game to a anyone under 18. There are countless reasons that this is incredibly stupid, among them the fact that a 17 year-old can buy himself a ticket to a graphically violent film like Saw or Hostel, or a sexually-charged film like Showgirls. But that same 17 year-old couldn't legally purchase DOOM 3, and the person who sold it to him would be criminally liable. How does this make sense? The answer is, it doesn't. Bills like this have nothing to do with protecting the children or seriously addressing issues which need governmental attention. Bills like this are entirely about election-year pandering to the ultra-conservative minority who unfortunately make up the modern Republican Base.

Bills like this have come up time and again all over the country, but they've always been defeated by lawmakers who have a last-minute attack of common sense, and several laws have been over-turned at the federal level, the most recent in Michigan, on First-Amendment grounds (note to conservatives: you have to respect all the amendments, not just the second one.) If this bill is signed into law by Oklahoma's governor (very likely, according to sources) it will certainly set up another legal battle, which will likely be found in favor of the game developers, because scientific studies have yet to find a link between simulated violence in videogames and real-life violence in the streets, yo.

32 Comments

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hippiedippiegirl

I'm lost

March 2005

APR 27, 2006 08:10 AM

I'm from Oklahoma and you think thats bad.... lol

Tattoos are illegal, piercings became legal as of 2001.

video games are the last things to worry about. You can order them off line or out of a catalog if your that worried about it. We spend so much money outside the state via texas or arkansa or kansas on things like tattoos or lottery tickets...

We even have dry counties that wont sell beer or liquor and you can't bring it into those counties either.... we have done without for so long that I seriously doubt that this will mean anything to a kid other then that hes gonna have to get it online or something....