BOSTON, MA — The Massachusetts legislature has begun hearings on HB 1423, a bill sponsored by Rep. Linda Dorecena Forry (D-Boston). The bill would classify violent videogames in the same category as pornography and outlaw their sale to minors.Boston Mayor Thomas Menino backs the bill, which was crafted with the aid of controversial Florida attorney Jack Thompson. For the record, Thompson — who recently was censured by the Florida Supreme Court for filing what the court termed frivolous complaints and wasting the court’s time — penned similar bills for Utah and Louisiana, both of which failed.
“Children aged 17 and under should not be sold this stuff, so they are not getting into the hands of 9- and 10-year-olds,” Menino’s chief of human services, Larry Mayes, told the Boston Herald.
“Is it going to be an uphill battle? Sure. But it’s absolutely a battle that the mayor feels he should take on.”
That’s partially because Boston and its suburbs have seen more than their share of bloodshed at the hands of teenagers this year: 13 violent murders so far.
Despite any tenuous links to increased crime that might exist, nine federal courts have rejected similar “videogames as porn” laws in recent years. Lousiana’s law was permanently enjoined in November 2006; the Utah legislature dropped its similar bill in 2007 over constitutional concerns.
“Every time states have tried to restrict access to First Amendment-protected material, it has been considered unconstitutional,” Entertainment Software Association spokesman Dan Hewitt told the Herald.
