OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Oklahoma House Bill 3004, which would expand Oklahoma’s definition of materials deemed “harmful to minors” to include “inappropriately violent” video games, is now one step from being sent to Governor Brad Henry to sign into law.Acquiring the Governor’s John Hancock is not likely to be the end of the bill’s struggle for existence, however; virtually identical laws have been shot down by the courts repeatedly in recent years, including bills passed by the legislatures of California, Illinois and Michigan.
HB 3004 was introduced by Oklahoma State Representatives Glen Coffee and Fred Morgan and passed the House by a unanimous vote of 47-0. Shortly after the bill passed the House, the Parents Television Council, a conservative media watchdog group, issued a statement calling on the Oklahoma Senate to pass the bill.
“This bill will protect children from the graphic violence and explicit sex that is common in many video games without infringing on the rights of adults,” said Tim Winter, executive director of the PTC in a press release posted to the PTC website late last month. “Currently, retailers have no legal obligation to curtail the selling of graphic, harmful and violent video games to minors, the parents in Oklahoma want that to change.”
According to Morgan, the law’s goal is two-fold; it is “aimed at raising public awareness of these games so parents and guardians can safeguard their children” and “making manufacturers more responsible in marketing the games to impressionable young minds.”
“I think there are grandparents and parents that have no idea what’s in these games and I think that’s a shame,” Morgan said in a statement posted to the Oklahoma House of Representatives website.
The Entertainment Software Association, the video-gaming industry’s primary voice in the debate over violent video games and industry self-regulation, wasted no time in pointing out that the bill is unlikely to survive a legal challenge, should it be signed into law.
Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, said HB 3004 is a “constitutional non-starter” and noted that similar laws have been struck down by six different courts in the last five years alone.
“We hope that, sooner or later, politicians will stop trying to seek headlines by subverting the Constitution and frittering away desperately needed taxpayer dollars and instead enter into a constructive partnership to educate parents about the tools available so they, not government, can raise their kids as they see fit and buy the games that are right for their unique families,” said Lowenstein.
The Media Coalition, Inc, a coalition that includes the ESA, the Association of American Publishers and the Motion Pictures Association of America, has submitted a “memorandum in opposition” to HB 3004, detailing several reasons the law is likely to fail under court scrutiny.
“This bill is clearly constitutionally suspect,” the Coalition states in its memorandum. “Speech is presumed to be protected by the First Amendment unless it falls into a few very narrow classes…. (N)one of the types of speech cited by the Supreme Court include speech with violent content alone. Violent content in otherwise constitutionally protected material is not a permissible subject of government regulation for adults or minors. A series of recent court decisions has reaffirmed this legal doctrine. Laws barring the sale or rental of video games with violent content to minors were enacted in 2005 in California, Illinois and Michigan. The laws were all successfully challenged with U.S. District Court judges granting injunctions barring the enforcement of these restrictions.”
Morgan concedes that other similar laws have failed, but says he will not be deterred in his efforts to curb minors’ access to violent video games.
“The industry has successfully challenged every law passed by local or state government but because citizens are continuing to demand that something be done, legislatures continue to try to find reasonable and constitutional ways to restrict access to these extremely violent, sexist, and graphic games,” Morgan said. “The growing body of research shows that these games are harmful to impressionable children.”
While the ESA and other critics of “video games as porn” laws argue that industry self-regulation and responsible parenting are the answer, the PTC asserts that the video game industry cannot regulate itself and claims there is “overwhelming evidence” demonstrating such games affect children’s minds.
“Voluntary compliance by the video game industry has been a failure, as studies repeatedly prove that small children are able to freely purchase adult-oriented games without providing proof of age,” claims Winters. “In addition, medical research offers overwhelming evidence that these ultra-violent games can cause damage to a child’s brain. We hope the Oklahoma Senate will follow the lead of other states and move quickly to pass this law.”
