Louisiana House Unanimously Passes Violent Games Bill

[ButterflyBlood]

The Louisiana House has passed Rep. Roy Burrell (D-Shreveport) HB 1381 on a 102-0 vote. The bill would allow a judge to determine if a video game is "patently offensive to prevailing standards" and if it's appealing "to the minor's morbid interest in violence." If the title meets these "criteria" the game could be ordered to be pulled from store shelves. Furthermore, someone found guilty of selling one of these games would face fines of between $100 and $2,000, and a prison term of up to one year.

According to the Associated Press, even though several members of the House questioned whether the bill would be in violation of the First Amendment, none felt they should vote against the measure.

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http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12718

STUPID

[snooper2]

1. dumb assess

nt

[primavera]

5. Well, Hillary will no doubt be pleased...

... since she too has concluded that computer games represent the most urgent and pressing problem facing the US today.

[ixion]

11. you said it...

idiots...good luck with that one. :eyes:

[bemildred]

2. Posturing, lickspittle buffoons. nt

[Solon]

3. Never stand up in court to begin with...

Unless it also applies to books, movies, magazines, and music, even then it violates the First Amendment, but people LOVE to waste time and money.

[Bandit]

12. Books ..you mean like the Bible

It is quite violent if I remember well.

[Solon]

13. Not to mention the Incest, torture and sex.

And the same people that want to ban GTA want that book as the textbook in public school. :wtf:

[merwin]

4. It won't stand up. They tried to do this with CD's, and it didn't last.

[enlightenment]

6. While I don't think this legislation is a workable thing to do,

may I ask why those games are so popular? What is the draw to a game that is designed to do nothing but imitate slaughter and mayhem?

I try to understand these things because I don't understand -- the graphics looks great, sound effects are cool (I suppose, if you like gunfire, grunting, screaming, and explosions) but what is the purpose? Is it really that amusing to pretend to kill people (or animals or aliens)?

I just don't get it.

[NorthernSpy]

7. yes, videogames are Louisiana's worst problem

Good to see that having solved their other woes, Louisianians are finally digging in to tackle the great horror that stalks their swampy land: bad videogames!



Hopeless. Just hopeless.

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Gumbo induced ulcers kill thousands every year

;)

[VegasWolf]

9. Another Democrat doing god's important work. Puke! nt

[MrPrax]

10. Rather strange vote...

One would think with all the lawyers involved in political office, you think just one would have opposed on the grounds it is legally dumb, a time waster and give the usual 'shame shame' speech on the House for leaving folks in NO high and not so dry...

You'd think in a democracy--one, just one might oppose it.

[johnhannahthree]

14. by that standard

"The Louisiana House has passed Rep. Roy Burrell (D-Shreveport) HB 1381 on a 102-0 vote. The bill would allow a judge to determine if a video game is "patently offensive to prevailing standards"..."

So I suppose a cock-fighting game would be just fine?

[newyawker99]

20. Hi johnhannahthree!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[KamaAina]

15. Give 'em a break. It's not like they have a state to rebuild or anything.

Oh, right, they do. And that pic is from December. The La. legislature had a supermajority of morans (both parties) pre-K, and it still does...

[skip fox]

16. The same state that allows cock fights and turns its back on dog fights.

Lived here 25 years. I gets a bit easier, not a lot.

[struggle4progress]

19. Cockfighting ban

Posted: May 16, 2006 06:11 PM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. - A Louisiana Senate committee has unanimously approved a ban on cockfighting, a surprising vote from a panel that has killed many such bills in past years.

The vote came after the bill's sponsor - Senator Art Lentini, called cockfighting a "barabaric embarassment" to Louisiana. Lentini says he believes the bill passed because of legislators' awareness that worldwide attention has been focused on the state since Hurricane Katrina.

The bill still must pass the full Senate and likely faces stiff opposition in the House. Governor Kathleen Blanco has not said whether she would sign a ban ..

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=4913975

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. What a load of horse shit.

They should be ashamed.

[warrens]

18. They got nothing better to worry about down there?

I seem to remember that one of their cities nearly floated away a while back. They might want to tend to that before this bullshit.

[pitohui]

21. ONE of their cities?

entire cities and towns have been destroyed from almost the texas border (cameron, creole, holly beach etcetera) all the way to nearly the mississippi border (substantial portions of slidell for instance being destroyed)

as for the "video game" bill, someone put a provision in the bill requiring sex offenders to have a special driver's license or ID card, hence, it then became politically impossible for anyone to oppose the bill

[Endangered Specie]

22. Well, its not like the Louisiana House had any OTHER pressing issues...

:sarcasm:

[gollygee]

23. ebay will be doing a brisk trade in this state

this law won't do much of anything.

[6000eliot]

24. Because they obviously don't have anything more important to think about.