The videogame industry is enraged that anyone should try to limit children’s access to their violent product, and as always, the they have resorted to half-truths to try to make its point. 

 

The industry asserts that the law “restricts the (First Amendment) rights of gamers, designers and innovators.”  This law does no such thing.  It merely prevents the most objectionable content from being sold directly to children.  The game industry has argued in court that children have a Constitutional "right" to buy games featuring near-endless graphic violence and sexual content.  Do children also have a "right" to purchase cigarettes and alcohol? Of course not! If the law prevents children from directly purchasing other types of material that is inappropriate or harmful for them, why shouldn't parents be able to rest easy knowing their child won’t be able to buy ultra-violent games without their permission? 

 

The issue is clear: the video game industry wants to profit off the direct sales of violent video games to minors, in direct opposition to their own stated policy. 

 

Of course, the gaming industry is not content with such a policy. Like the violent thugs which populate so many of the games it sells, the videogame industry has responded to the ongoing court case with vicious attacks. California State Senator Leland Yee, who introduced the law, has been personally targeted by the videogame industry and various groups they fund.  Industry-funded groups have urged gamers to send Senator Yee broken video game controllers.  The industry surely knows that sending hate mail to Senator Yee will have absolutely no influence whatsoever on the Supreme Court's ruling; thus, such mail is simply the industry throwing a temper tantrum and trying to intimidate someone who dares to hold them to the standards the gaming industry itself allegedly endorses. The videogame industry and those who support them are bullies, plain and simple. The PTC urges its members to stand up to the billionaire game companies that profit from selling sex and violence to children.