A ban on selling violent video games, such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is being pondered by Maryland’s House of Delegates, where a showing of the game before its Judiciary Committee was reported to have left some lawmakers in visible shock after decapitation, dismemberment, and multiple shootings were shown.
In fact, at least one committee member had one word to describe what he saw in the game. “What I saw there,” said Del. Michael D. Smigiel, Sr. (R-Cecil) to his fellow committee members, “had no redeeming social qualities. I would say it’s pornographic.”
But pornographic though he called it, Smigiel is actually hesitant about an outright ban, and so are other Maryland lawmakers. According to published reports, they fear constitutional ramifications of such a measure and question aloud whether a ban is even needed, considering the video game industry on and offline has set and enforced policies against selling or renting some particularly graphic games to minors.
The District of Columbia is actively considering a similar ban.
Supporters of such bans argue that video games—especially those with increasingly realistic-looking images—have triggered violence around the United States among youth, such violence as the Columbine High School killings of 1999 and the Malvo shootings in the 2002 Washington sniper killings.
Maryland’s proposed measure, written by Del. Justin D. Ross (D-Prince George) would fine sellers of violent video games to minors up to $1,000 and jail them for six months. California, Washington state, Georgia, and Alabama are also said to be considering such legislation.
Opponents of such bans as Maryland is considering say they fly in the face of the First Amendment, considering recent court rulings saying the government has no right to ban sales of violent or sexually explicit material including games, no matter how distasteful the content.
"When you start talking about freedom of speech, you need to be very careful," said Del. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) to his fellow committee members, in effect challenging a fellow Democrat. "There's a lot of things we don't want kids to do. Is the next step prohibiting kids from watching movies where kids drink?"
But proponents of the sale restrictions, similar to those in a measure proposed in the District, argued that the games have incited a wave of violence across the country, contributing to such killings as the slayings at Columbine High School in 1999 (killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were habitual players of Doom) and Lee Boyd Malvo's shootings (Malvo was a regular player of Halo) in the 2002 Washington area sniper killings.
