Louisiana Deputy Attorney General: Video Game Law "Unenforceable as Written"

Louisiana Deputy Attorney General: Video Game Law "Unenforceable as Written"

November 30, 2006
The deputy attorney general assigned to defend Louisiana's failed video game law told a local newspaper he was not surprised that a federal judge found the measure unconstitutional.

The Louisiana statute was written by controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson. Burton Guidry, the deputy A.G., told The Advocate:
We did everything we could to defend the law, but, as the judge said, the law was practically unenforceable as written... The First Amendment is a mighty thing.

Guidry, who was the subject of harsh criticism by Thompson during earlier phases of the video game industry's legal challenge, told the newspaper he thought the law could be re-drafted in a way that would be enforceable. It is unclear whether that will occur.

It is now likely that the video game industry will seek to recover its legal expenses in the case. The industry is currently awaiting more than $500,000 from Illinois for that state's failed 2005 video game law.

Comments

See that, JT? The terrible things you say DO have consquences. It's only a matter of time before you run out of people willing to align themselves with you, and you will lose all relevance in this debate as you should have a long time ago.
See, here's the thing: if Guidry found it unsurprising that the federal judge would deem it unconstitutional... that Guidry said it's "unenforceable as written"... why would the A.G. bother to approve and endorse the bill in the first place?

Just because Thompson demanded it or something? (Please tell me that's not the reason...)
It's not the AG's role to endorse and approve legislation - that's the role of the senate. He just makes sure the state's interests are represented in court when necessary. I think the AG was always somewhat critical of this law but in his official capacity he had to try and defend it anyway.
That's right bitches! When you align yourself with a born loser, your team tends to lose. Funny how that works. Verlin and Delbert Posey will find out soon enough as well, although of course I'm not trying to compare those semi-humans to the LA. officials in any way.

@Benji:

I don't ever recall Guidry being critical of the law until recently...I remember him sweating bullets because Thompson pulled his team of idiots last minute. I think he thought it was defensible until that point. Are you sure you're not thinking of the Utah A.G.?
Any idea on when GP can obtain a copy of the written decision? I'd love to read that.
We should be able to post Judge Brady's ruling in a day or so... It's not available yet.
I can't wait for the "press release" for this one.

Below is an email someone should send JT's way- its a modification of his gloating letter to MetalGearSolid.org over a gamer's death:

"Your "game law" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that. There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with unconstitutional laws. The writing of these anti-video game laws is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you lawyers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one. The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one bill. There are literally millions of old people and aging adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless. All of you lawyers need to put down the lawsuits and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid "moral eleitism" really is. You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this "culture of fearmongering?" Of course not. Hey, let's all write MORE legislation, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives. Let's pretend to be shocked that a lawyer might descend into deeper depression, as his politician "buds," knowing the bill was dying, couldn't figure out how to think logically for themselves for it. That would have involved leaving their high horses I guess. Sad. Sad for all of you."
Perhaps so - I can't recall him saying much about the law itself, but I do recall the stories of him saying that as things were it was undefensible. So by right I can't really say if he was personally for or against the law.
(A sharp contrast from the Minnesota AG saying games were 'worthless, disgusting speech.' That release of his still irks me.)
lol on that letter you could see easily where games and gamers were replaced by Laws and blah blah blah.

All that really counts is that Jack Thompson Got Pwned.
@Benji - the AG can endorse whatever law he wants. That's only politics. In terms of the process, it means squat.
It is still amazing how these people who hate video games are trying to fight for something that has no merit. A big study came out recently showing that only 4% of video gamers are under the age of 17. 80% are between 18-43 and 16% are above the age of 44. A lot of the things Thompson does is very much like someone a Communist would do if you think about it. Same goes for Leland Yee (who is from Communist China and does have a real agenda to make the U.S a Communist country).

Thompson is going to get disbarred if he keeps doing what he is doing. He is already under investigation by the Florida Bar for ethic issues and was recently filed a complaint by the judge who he was very disrespectful to. Hell, Thompson isn't even a bad guy in person, but is very mentally unstable. It's sad.
"Zerodash Says:
November 30th, 2006 at 10:09 am
I can’t wait for the “press release” for this one.

Below is an email someone should send JT’s way- its a modification of his gloating letter to MetalGearSolid.org over a gamer’s death:

“Your “game law” will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it’s too late for that. There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with unconstitutional laws. The writing of these anti-video game laws is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you lawyers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one. The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one bill. There are literally millions of old people and aging adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless. All of you lawyers need to put down the lawsuits and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid “moral eleitism” really is. You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this “culture of fearmongering?” Of course not. Hey, let’s all write MORE legislation, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives. Let’s pretend to be shocked that a lawyer might descend into deeper depression, as his politician “buds,” knowing the bill was dying, couldn’t figure out how to think logically for themselves for it. That would have involved leaving their high horses I guess. Sad. Sad for all of you.”

NICE! If i were you, i would email that to him.
he thought the law could be re-drafted in a way that would be enforceable

I really can't see how.

You could make it more narrowly tailored, say define specific actions, like shooting a gun, rather than relying on the context, which would mean you're restricting the portrayal of an action rather than the story behind the action. But that would affect T rated games as well, which would make it more unpopular.

You could make it apply to all media, rather than just video games. That would take care of the 14th Amendment complaints. But then you'd have the movie and music industries to fight against as well. Can't just pick on the underdog.

Certainly eliminate "for minors" at the end of the 3rd prong. Art is art, you can't restrict art based on age. It either is or it isn't.

For gawd sakes try to come up with a way to let stores know ahead of time which games will have the cops breathing down your neck and which won't. Like a government ratings board, or an advisory, or heck, even a list of what would fall under the ruling. Then stores will know what falls under the law and what won't. Uncertainty goes out the window.
@ Zerodash
One suggestion, if it's not too late:
You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of money.

You could make it more narrowly tailored, say define specific actions, like shooting a gun, rather than relying on the context, which would mean you’re restricting the portrayal of an action rather than the story behind the action. But that would affect T rated games as well, which would make it more unpopular.
Not just T games. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz contains guns in some of its mini-games. It's all very cartoony, and the game is rated E for Everyone, but it techincally could be affected if they tried something like that.
In reply to Jabrwock:
Government ratings board = Government censorship board. That's one of the big reasons why, at least in the US of A, you can't outright ban one's access to media, obscenity excluded. Even if the members of such a board never planned on using their power to ban access to a game, the fact that such power exists over an art form is a very dangerous precedent.
Applying to all media - I think is necessary and long overdue, but there's apparently not enough moral outrage to make movies an attractive target.
Lists of specific actions to be used in rating: Seems doable, but its execution is messy because to be done properly there's so many variables associated with any one act. Actions need to be considered in their context to some degree - the presence of guns being fired in a game doesn't really say anything the game's content. Mario Party has guns. So does Call of Duty. So does F.E.A.R. And so on. The fact that actions need to be considered in context makes a purely objective ratings system nearly impossible to implement.
@Benji

Government ratings board = Government censorship board

I know, I'm just throwing out ideas. :) It was an attempt to deal with the fact that game publishers and stores have no idea if they'll get hauled into court for selling product A to a minor, until after the first guy gets hauled into court. Total uncertainty. If you know ahead of time which games qualify and which wouldn't, then the uncertainty is gone, and you know which games need their rating enforced, and which can be safely sold to everyone.

What we have here in Canada works better than some other government ratings boards, because ours isn't allowed to refuse a classification without a damn good reason (like the content breaks the law somehow). Other countries with ratings boards seem to be allowed to "ban" certain games willy nilly, simply by refusing to classify the content, which means it can't be sold, period.

So yeah, it's still government censorship, but *if* (a big IF) regulations were allowed by the courts, this would be one thing that would be needed to prevent the confusion currently present about application.

Actions need to be considered in their context to some degree

True, but if you consider the context, then you're judging the story, and you can't do that under the 1st Amend. At that point it gets tricky. You can restrict indecency, but not if it's got scientific (educational) or artistic merit. But other than those categories, you can't judge the indecency on context.
So another expensive farce comes to an end. I have an idea that would put a stop to all these silly legal shenanigans. JT and the gaming industry should resolve their differences in the same way that normal mature adults do: Three rounds of Mario Kart balloon game.
Well OF COURSE its not enforceable as written. The first time I read it, I was floored by its vagueness and utter lack of clarity. At that moment I became completely convinced that JT had never actually studied law in any competent capacity. When laypeople recognize your work as that of a hack, it's time to find a new profession. On top of that JT hasn't won a case in who knows how long. He truly, completely, utterly, unquestionably, undoubtedly sucks as a lawyer. Which is good for those of us who enjoy free speech.
perhaps they should sue/annoy/bully JT to get some of the tax payer money back after all he "wrote" the law and in the end its was his over zelsouness that made it unenforceable...
@ Benji & Jabrwock

Police will not 'enforce' this kind of thing. Think of it this way - if they ignore court orders to help family members access a home, there is no way, absent an actual law, they will enforce some 'ratings' system. Typically those sorts of administrative laws are enforced by empowered officials and the enforcement takes the form of a fine. The fine would be challenged.

A government board is an extremely bad idea. It seems to be the first thing Canadians think of when presented with a problem - ie.. "what is the government going to do about this". I for one do not believe that the 'government' knows what is best, especially where I am concerned. Call it a skepticism from realizing that all government officials accept contributions by businesses or special interest groups. Somehow I don't believe the actions of a government are not influenced by those who donated to the officials at the helm.

This "HUGE ISSUE" will blow over in a couple of years and all this will be relegated to the "remember when..." file. Of course, in a few years time, busybodies will all be calling for legislation on some other burning issue.
@o_rangekrush

It seems to be the first thing Canadians think of when presented with a problem

I'm not saying the board idea is a good one, just that when our constitution allows our government to curtail our freedoms already (our "freedom of speech" is more flexible than yours, and our minors have much fewer rights), it's a good idea to have some kind of standard document you can refer to.

And no, we don't immediately go "hey, lets make a government board!" every time we're presented with a problem. Boards, however, are a handy way to seperate the current ruling government from the regulation of the problem they are trying to solve. Adds an extra layer the lobbyists have to go through to push their ideas (board members afterall, are less likely to respond to "oh yeah, well I'll just finance the OTHER guy next election!")

The government is allowed to set laws setting up boards, and appoint board members, but those members then decide the specific regulations. Granted it can be a mass of red tape, but at the same time, the government can't just change the regs every time public opinion changes, so it helps to balance out between change and status quo. I mean really, would you want your regulations changing as fast as they change ministers?
"perhaps they should sue/annoy/bully JT to get some of the tax payer money back after all he “wrote” the law and in the end its was his over zelsouness that made it unenforceable… "

That is true, I mean how many more repairs could've NO had instead of pushing through an irresponsible bill? How much lost wages have they had for lack of or inadequate infrastructure? Why should the tax-payers have to foot the bill for this failed nonsense?
The problem was that the law was drafted by someone who hated games and wanted to destroy them. Had it been drafted to actually protect children rather than part of Mr Thompson's vendetta, then it would have been more specific about what was considered 'unacceptable'.

Oddly enough, a law to that effect was passed in Louisiana, with the ESA's blessing only a week or so before this one.

Thompson has never really 'changed' anything. He might stop one album or one 'Shock Jock', but nothing really changes. Indeed, things tend to proliferate once Thompson steps in, look at how many GTA clones are on the market now, of all people JT should know that even bad publicity is publicity. Indeed, this kind of 'copycatting' is far more a problem than anything pulled out by an anti-gamer.
These people need to give it up. They've lost and they need to accept the fact that they're losers and stop trying to pass these stupid laws. These people, like Jack Thompson, are liars and they need to stop trying to pass a retarded law like this. They lost and now all anti-game activists need to SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The fact of the matter is any law that would restrict minor's access to Free Speech materials is unconstitutional unless the law follows the Ginsberg/Miller "obscene for minors" formula or if the government can show a legitimate proscription (a.k.a - strong, consistant, undisputable proven harm) from the speech in question. In both instances laws restricting access to violent video games will fail, because obscenity for both minors and adults deals only with sexual conduct, and there is no evidence beyond some extremely weak, inconsistant, incredibly flawed and baised studies linking violent video games with a proven harm to minors, period.
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come on who doesn't like computer well besides these freaks like serously i like games you likee games
we all like games.

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