Mississippi Video Game Bill is Dead on Arrival
Mississippi Video Game Bill is Dead on Arrival
February 13, 2007
With little fanfare, a video game bill introduced in the Mississippi State Senate earlier this year has died in committee.Senator Gray Tollison, a Democrat, proposed the measure, SB2726, which would have mandated $100 fines for retailers who sold M-rated games to minors.
The bill was referred to the Mississippi Senate's Judiciary Committe, but failed to win approval. On January 30th it was listed as "died in committee."
It's not the first time Sen Tollison has proposed video game legislation. As reported by GamePolitics, a similar bill proposed by Tollison on 2006 also failed to move.
A PUBLICATION OF THE ECA
SUBSCRIBE
LOGINGamePolitics ShoutBox
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Copyright © 2007 ECA. All rights reserved.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
I don't think most of these politicos have it out for games in particular. As I've said again and again, violent video games are a hot-button family values issue right now. These legislators are just looking for easy votes among the soccer moms, and they don't care how much dough the state has to spend for their little publicity stunts. After all, it's not like it's their money that's being spent.
$100 is a pretty large fine if it's levied on the person who sold the game, as opposed to the company. When I worked at an Electronics Boutique, that was more than 1/3 of a week's pay for me.
This is what we need to see more of. There will always be idiots who want to write these bills. That's going to have to be accepted until such time as most of the legislature in the country is from a generation that grew up with video games. Having the bills die in committee because said committee knew the bills were foolish is really the best possible result for the present. It keeps the bills from becoming law, it keeps things out of the courts where it costs a fortune, and it makes the legislator who wrote it look foolish.
The article said it would fine "retailers," but the text in the link does say "person," so I guess that makes sense.
DECLARE WAR ON INCOMPENTENCE
[url=http://Gray.Tollison.JustGotOwned.com]own3d![/url]
The bill didn't even make it out of committee Daniel, so once again there is nothing to worry about.
@AJ
Either someone lied to you or you live outside of the U.S. There are no government based regulations that fine people for selling M rated games to minors. All attemps to do this have been ruled unconstitutional and rightfully so. Beyond obscene speech for adults or "obscene to minors" speech for minors the government can't regulate/restrict or censor Free Speech materials.
I know there's nothing to worry about. Why do you think I said, "Another one bites the dust?"
And it's a good song. Although I didn't know Freddie Mercury died...
How could you have missed it? It was big news at the time and they held a massive tribute concert a few months later. I was only 10 years old at the time but even I remember that.
I really don't know >.
Basically, I said to AbsumZer0 it may have been before I got into classic rock or something; or I simply don't remember.
And then I agreed with Benji in that, I do believe the store has the legal rights to place fines against employees who don't follow the policies they set.
If you think the ratings board is too restrictive on M rated games then that is a different issue, but this bill actually seemed pretty intelligent. Another state had a bill that would have charged a misdemeanor to anyone selling or giving a game to a minor. That would have held a parent criminally responsible for buying a game for their child (which I can't imagine being constitutional since a child can do most things with parental consent).
This allows children to at least have access to the game if a parent deems it allowable. Tollison's bill was a pretty intelligent attempt to force the parent to act, something that is at the heart of this issue of violent video games being in the hands of children.
Additionally, bills like this may actually make MORE games available. Developers are likely to push the envelope if there is legislation affirmatively blocking the sale to minors. Countries with extremely restrictive ratings boards like Germany and Australia may follow suit and allow more games to be sold.
If for no other reason, I'm ready for children to not be on Gears of War multiplayer.
The problem is the government is NOT ALLOWED TO MANDATE THE RATINGS. That falls to the retailers who are getting better.
If the 15 year old in question is mature enough to handle it, I see no problems. I mean, to be honest, by the time I was 15, I was looking at porn.
I think it's a question of maturaty more than age; although, I do think there is proper ages. 15 is basically the cutoff.
And I don't want the government telling me what I can or cannot buy, or a kid for that matter. If they're allowed to do that, who's to say they can't start restricting our freedoms further? It's the parents' job to be parents.
"The federal government could mandate the ratings if a law were passed allowing them to."
No they can't, such laws are unconstitutional and rightfully so. Minor's have First Amendment rights and the government can't restrict the access of Free Speech materials such as violent games to them solely because they think it's unsuitable or inappproprate. That responsibility lies solely with the parents. The only case in which the government can restrict minor's First Amendment rights is if the Speech in question is "obscene to minors" or if there is showing of absolute proven harm of which when it comes to violent media there is none.
Also i really see no problem with a 15 year old playing any M rated game out there. By that age they can handle it just fine. Hell, the average 15 year old can handle porn fine to, IMHO. It's not like they don't already have sexual feelings.