Minnesota passes "Inappropriate Games" bill

Minnesota has passed an “Inappropraite Games” bill, in which minors are punished for purchasing adult rated games, rather than retailers. Other states have bassed inappropriate games bills, but in Minnesota the minor will be fined $25 and the retailer gets no dessert for a week. The bill was proposed by Republican Representative Jeff Johnson and also requires retailers to put up signs in their stores that list and explain the different ESRB ratings.

Most video-game related bills have been shot down because they violate First Amendment rights. Johnson says “We were trying to pass the narrowest bill possible just to try something different from a constitutional challenge standpoint.” He continues, “There are two potential constitutional problems. One is that we are using the ESRB ratings. I can see a court saying you can’t use private industry to create the law, but there’s no way around that because everything else anyone has tried has been unsuccessful. The other piece is that so far no court has found a strong enough link (between game violence and youth violence).”

Why they want to penalize minors instead of retailers is beyond me. 12 year old kids don't know any better, it is the retailers that should be held responsible as businesses whose main priority is to make money. This law gives them no reason not to sell M or even T rated games to minors. It is indeed an ineffective law.

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