California’s Violent Video Game Ban Unconstitutional
Some folks are just going to have to be more attentive parents, because the State of California, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, does not have the right to ban the sale of violent video games to kids. Yup, according to a decision handed down this very day, the supremes upheld the decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that California’s video game ban law violates our kids’ First Amendment rights. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia basically said graphic sexual imagery is bad and we should continue to protect kids from it, but kids are exposed to depictions of violence and mayhem from the first time they read fairy tales. The examples he cited included the violent fates that befall Hansel and Gretel’s witch, Cinderella’s step sisters, and Snow White’s evil queen. So, California was trying to exercise a hypocritical right it never had in the first place. Truth be told, this was always a pretty silly law anyway. Not for its moral intent, which is pure if misguided, but simply because there weren’t many realistic ways to keep kids from getting their hands on stuff like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars once it left the retail store. (San Francisco Chronicle – Supreme Court Bans Video Ban)