Judge allows
Indy video game ban
October 17 2000
City inspectors will ensure that
minors don't play explicit games without parents'
permission
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge
has ruled that a city ordinance banning minors from
playing violent and sexually explicit video games
without parental permission can take effect immediately.
The
law, passed by the City-County Council in July, was to
go into effect Sept. 1. But representatives of the
pay-for-play video game industry — including
manufacturers, distributors and arcade owners — sued
on Aug. 21, seeking a preliminary injunction.
In Wednesday's ruling, U.S. District
Judge David Hamilton said, ''It would be an odd
conception of the First Amendment ... that would allow a
state to prevent a boy from purchasing a magazine
containing pictures of topless women in provocative
poses, but give that same boy a constitutional right to
train to become a sniper at the local arcade without his
parents' permission.''
Industry representatives had argued
the ordinance's restriction on games with ''graphic
violence'' were content-based restrictions on speech, in
violation of the First Amendment. They also contended
the ordinance was unconstitutionally vague.
Kenneth Falk of the Indiana Civil
Liberties Union, which was not a plaintiff in the case,
said he was concerned about the implications of the
ruling.
''I think the concern in the First
Amendment area is always that if a certain type of
speech can be regulated, that that can be spread to
other forms of speech,'' Falk told The Indianapolis
Star.
The law requires coin-operated games
featuring graphic violence or strong sexual content to
have warning labels and be kept at least 10 feet from
nonviolent game machines. The machines must also be
separated by a curtain or wall so minors cannot see
them. The law bars people under age 18 from such games
unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Businesses would be fined $200 per day
for a violation; three violations in a year could lead
to the revocation of a business's amusement location
license.
The city was to send information to
all 70 licensed arcades and other affected businesses on
Thursday. City inspectors were to begin random checks
Friday.
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