California Senator Thinks That Congress Should Reduce Guns in Video Games Themselves

There was a first amendment around here somewhere.

None

The relationship between gun violence and violent video games is a tenuous one at best. There has been no scientific evidence correlating video games and real world violence, but that hasn't stopped numerous American law makers from trying to make a case for it.

California Senator Diane Feinstein has been on the front line of the ongoing gun control debate taking place on the national stage. There is no easy solution to such a complex issue, especially in the wake of a seemingly endless deluge of gun violence. The video game industry, it still sadly seems, is being used as the digital bogeyman responsible for real world gun violence.

“Video games provide a very negative role for young people, and the industry ought to take note of that." Feinstein told the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. She went on to state that Congress might step in and take measures to control video game violence themselves following the horrific events of Sandy Hook.

“If Sandy Hook doesn't do it, if the knowledge of these video games this young man played doesn't, then maybe we have to proceed, but that is in the future.”

Ignoring the history of various mental and social disorders suffered by the man responsible for Sandy Hook, video games are not what should be targeted. Setting aside the legality of the Senator's sentiments, this isn't the first time (or second, third, or fourth) a Senator has publicly ignored the 2011 United States Supreme Court Case that protects video games as free speech under the first amendment. Another California Senator, Leland Yee, was made famous for telling gamers to shut up after their support of the gaming industry after the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Law makers need to dial down the rhetoric when it comes to assaulting the low hanging fruit of the gaming industry. Tell us what you think of the Senator's comments.

[via Examiner]

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