New York goes insane, Felony to sell M-rated games to minors Options

[Spectatrix]

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/05/30/another...rs-into-felons/
http://inventorspot.com/felonytosellgames
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08696&sh=t

Long story short: On May 30th, New York politicians proposed a bill that would make it a felony for retailers to sell games including "depraved violence and indecent images" (i.e. most M-rated games, possibly some T-rated ones too?) to folks under age 17. It would be a class E felony, which means 1-4 years in prison.

On May 31st, it passed in the New York Assembly 130 to 10. I'm not sure by what margin the corresponding legislation in the state senate passed by earlier in the month. The bill has passed and all that remains is for it to be signed into law by New York's governor.

Is it just me or is this MAJOR overkill? I'll admit that I disagree with putting legal age restrictions on the sale of games and movies in general, but I can see why people would support such legislation. However, anything more than a misdemeanor for such a "crime" is asinine.

[Spectatrix]

anyways, I think its a good idea because kids dont need to be playing shit like that.

You should not be the one making that judgement call. Parents should be.

oh I know, but at least it encourages retailers to abide by the law. I think the issue is parents not monitoring their kids, and this will make that even more apparent. I dont see why everyone is bitching so much about it

The issue is indeed that parents don't monitor their kids, so fine, whatever, we have to make up a bunch of BS laws. But here, I'm bitching because they're making this a FELONY. A NY class E felony, which makes it equivalent (by NY law) to:

• Attempted Vehicular Manslaughter in the 2nd Degree
• Attempted Assault in the 2nd Degree
• Aggravated Assault Upon a Person Less Than Eleven Years Old
• Attempted Vehicular Assault in the 1st Degree
• Vehicular Assault in the 2nd Degree
• Attempted Stalking in the 1st Degree
• Stalking in the 2nd Degree
• Menacing in the 1st Degree
• Rape in the 3rd Degree

etc. etc... http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents...ffenselist.html

Do you REALLY think that selling a violent video game to a minor is equivalent to crimes such as these and should be punishable by a MINIMUM of 1 year of jail time?