Wisconsin Representative To Introduce Game Restriction Legislation

The latest state to consider legislation restricting the sale of violent games to minors is Wisconsin. Assembly Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts announced her intentions to submit a bill making it illegal for stores to sell violent or sexual games to minors without parents' consent. The bill, like others currently either under review or passed in Illinois, Michigan, California, Florida, and Delaware, would impose heavy fines and possible jail time ($10,000 or 3 and a half years in prison) for retailers who violated the law. The precise language of the bill is still unclear, since the bill has not yet been publicly submitted in session. Questions left unaddressed are whether the bill will adopt the currently existing ESRB ratings as guidelines for mature content, as the Delaware bill does, or whether the law would impose its own standards and mark on violent games, as most of the other statewide anti-game bills do. The Entertainment Software Association has not yet responded Rep. Pope-Roberts' announcement, but the trade organization has vigorously opposed all other such legislation. The ESA is currently suing to overturn the passed bills in California and Florida, and recently successfully overturned bills in Michigan and Illinois. Despite the general failure of such legislation to stand up when challenged in court, Rep. Pope-Roberts said that those cases should not stop Wisconsin from passing the legislation when it's introduced.