FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEBRUARY 13, 2003
CONTACT: LINDA MACIAS/PAUL TODD (202) 225-6161

Cop killing, prostitution, mass murder, sodomy - Is it all just a game?
Baca steps up fight to protect children from video game sex and violence

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Joe Baca (D-Rialto) today reintroduced legislation aimed at curbing the sale or rental of violent and sexually oriented video games to children. Baca first introduced the legislation last year in the wake of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) findings that games labeled for mature users by the video game industry were widely and easily available to young children.

"By introducing the new and improved Protect Children from Video Game Sex and Violence Act, we're sending a loud and clear message to the video game industry and retailers: parents will decide what games their children should purchase and play, not you!" Baca said. "This is not just about money, this is about our children's' futures."

Last year's bill, H.R. 4645, died in committee at the end of the 107^th Congress, but gained widespread bipartisan support both on the Hill and among public safety, children's health, and religious organizations, and the Inland Valley community. The new bill, H.R. 669, would make it a federal crime for retailers to sell ultra violent and sexually explicit video games to minors because the games can be harmful to children.

In 2001 the Federal Trade Commission conducted a nationwide sting operation in which children were sent to video game retailers to try to purchase games labeled "M" for "mature audiences" only. It found that children under 17 years of age were able to purchase "M" rated games 78 percent of the time. Video games are rated by the video game industry for violent and sexual content. "AO," which stands for "adult only," is the industry's most stringent rating while "M" rated games are meant for children over the age of 17. Another study found that 92 percent of children ages 2 to 17 play video or computer games.

"All the kids play video games now; it's a 10 billion dollar industry," Baca said. "And each year the technology gets better, but unfortunately the sexual content and violence get more realistic."

Violent and sexually explicit games new to the market include:

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - the follow-up to Grand Theft Auto III contains the same graphic sex and violence as Grand Theft Auto III including prostitution, random murder, and killing police officers.

• State of Emergency - allows player to choose between several gang member characters. They can bomb stores and other places and kill as many innocent bystanders as they can during an urban riot. The game depicts acts of assault, killing, and mass murder.

• Max Pain - depicts acts of "sodomy and oppression," including the depiction of Abner Louima being sodomized by a "vibrating dooky-shock controller."

• BMX XXX - allows players to spend their money in strip clubs, showing live-action footage of naked strippers.

• DOA Volleyball - allows players to create female characters, with full control over breast size and the option to have the character appear topless.

Baca's new bill does not list activities that would be prohibited in games available to kids without parental permission. Instead, the bill criminalizes selling to children under 18 games that contain violent or sexually explicit content, as defined by prevailing community standards, and that could be considered harmful to minors.

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