Senators hear
concerns about violent video games
Copyright © 2000 Nando Media
Copyright © 2000 Associated Press
WASHINGTON (March 22, 2000 6:31 a.m.
EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - A Kentucky woman wants
Congress to that know the boy who killed her daughter
learned his marksmanship by playing violent video games.
"I am here today to ask you not
to be an obstruction that makes it harder for parents to
protect their children," Sabrina Steger of Paducah
said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday
on the impact on children of video game violence.
"As a nurse, I'm in the business
of recognizing signs of illness, and I see Americans
addicted to violence and in denial of it."
Steger asked lawmakers to ban sales to
minors of mature-rated video games and to finance a
public awareness campaign aimed at parents.
Her teenage daughter Kayce and two
others died in 1997 and five students were wounded when
14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on students who
had been praying.
Carneal pleaded guilty but mentally
ill and was sentenced to life in prison last Dec. 16.
Witnesses at a congressional hearing
testified last year that Carneal rarely fired a rifle
and never shot a pistol but had plenty of practice with
arcade-quality point-and-shoot games at home.
Steger and the parents of the two
other slain children are suing entertainment companies,
saying the creators of popular films, violent video
games and sex-oriented Web sites influenced Carneal.
Craig Anderson, a psychology professor
at Iowa State University, said research shows video
games can trigger aggressive and violent behavior.
"There is good reason to think
the effects of exposure to violent video games will be
even greater" than to television and movies, he
told the committee.
The hearing room audience watched a
video game and heard descriptions from committee
Chairman Sam Brownback, R-Kan., of several others. In
one popular game, "Duke Nukem," nude female
prostitutes, some bound to posts, beg to be killed,
Brownback said.
Brownback said video companies
deliberately market mature-rated games to children and
expressed frustration that nine industry executives
rejected invitations for their companies to be
represented at the hearing.
David Walsh, president of the National
Institute on Media and the Family, said his group has
forwarded to the Federal Communications Commission
documents that he said show video companies target
children.
The Federal Trade Commission is
investigating Hollywood's marketing practices for
violent shows and games.
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