Author of ‘violent game’ law responds to Supreme Court decision

Senator Leland Yee, the man responsible for writing California’s ‘violent game’ law, has responded to todays Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling in favour of the EMA.
In a fantastic piece of pandering, Yee attempted to appeal to both knee-jerk ‘family values’ right-wingers and anti-corporate lefties in the same statement. “What has happened today is that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided it’s going to side with corporate America and Wal-Mart against our children,” Yee said in a San Francisco press conference.
This is an interesting slant, because the Supreme Court actually sided with the Entertainment Merchants Association on the grounds that videogames should receive the same First Amendment protection rights as other media. It’s also worth noting that Wal-Mart has a stated policy not to sell M-Rated games to minors and, in a recent study, its employees managed to uphold that policy in 80% of cases.
George Fouras, MD, of the San Francisco Medical Society also spoke on Yee’s behalf, and decided to crassly compare videogames to underage drinking, smoking and viewing of pornography. “In the past, we’ve protected [children] from alcohol, cigarettes and pornography and we felt that this was on that level,” Fouras said, apparently without irony.
This may not be the end of the matter either, as Yee feels he can see a way to get another bill before the Supreme Court: “If we craft the bill differently, there may be a basis for trying to get another hearing within the Supreme Court on this particular matter.”
Concerning stuff; but as the last case took eight years to get anywhere (and now has a Supreme Court ruling in its defense) the matter can at least rest for a while.
Image: the US Supreme Court building.