Clinton Legislation Goes to Congress

As promised, democratic senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh formally filed the Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA) to stop the sale of “violent and pornographic” games to minors.

Lieberman, long-time violent videogame opponent, and Clinton originally introduced the bill on November 29. The legislation is meant to “put teeth in the enforcement of video game ratings, helping parents protect their children from inappropriate content,” according to a press release. The bill involves fines against retailers that sell M- and AO-rated games to minors, as well as audits of the ESRB and its ratings.

“The holiday season is a particularly important time to raise awareness of this issue. Videogames are hot holiday items, and there are certainly wonderful games that help our children learn and increase hand and eye coordination. However, there are also games that are just not appropriate for our nation’s youth,” said Senator Clinton. “This bill will help empower parents by making sure their kids can’t walk into a store and buy a video game that has graphic, violent and pornographic content.”

Lieberman went on to suggest that certain games attack values shared amongst the majority of Americans.

“The content of many cutting edge games is becoming more and more vivid, violent, and offensive to our most basic values,” Lieberman said. “We are not interested in censoring videos [sic] meant for adult entertainment but we do want to ensure that these videos [sic] are not purchased by minors. Our bill will help accomplish this by imposing fines on those retailers that sell M-rated games to minors, putting purchasing power back in the hands of watchful parents.”

As promised, democratic senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh formally filed the Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA) to stop the sale of “violent and pornographic” games to minors.

Lieberman, long-time violent videogame opponent, and Clinton originally introduced the bill on November 29. The legislation is meant to “put teeth in the enforcement of video game ratings, helping parents protect their children from inappropriate content,” according to a press release. The bill involves fines against retailers that sell M- and AO-rated games to minors, as well as audits of the ESRB and its ratings.

“The holiday season is a particularly important time to raise awareness of this issue. Videogames are hot holiday items, and there are certainly wonderful games that help our children learn and increase hand and eye coordination. However, there are also games that are just not appropriate for our nation’s youth,” said Senator Clinton. “This bill will help empower parents by making sure their kids can’t walk into a store and buy a video game that has graphic, violent and pornographic content.”

Lieberman went on to suggest that certain games attack values shared amongst the majority of Americans.

“The content of many cutting edge games is becoming more and more vivid, violent, and offensive to our most basic values,” Lieberman said. “We are not interested in censoring videos [sic] meant for adult entertainment but we do want to ensure that these videos [sic] are not purchased by minors. Our bill will help accomplish this by imposing fines on those retailers that sell M-rated games to minors, putting purchasing power back in the hands of watchful parents.”