By George Anderson
The Illinois state House civil law committee gave its approval for a bill to go to the floor for a vote that would fine stores up to $5,000 for selling violent and sexually explicit video games to children.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been pushing the bill even though similar measures in other states have been struck down as being unconstitutional.
The legislation, if approved by the Illinois House, would require stores to label violent or sexually explicit games with black-and-white stickers reading "18." It would be up to the stores to decide which games received the "18" sticker.
Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) expressed concern about the bill's language in an interview with The Associated Press. "This bill does not have clear standards to the people that need to know what the standards are — the parents, the kids, the clerk, the manager at Best Buy," he said. "These are people that will not have a clear standard under this bill as to what is or is not okay."
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association has come out against the bill.
Moderator's Comment: From a retailer's perspective, how would you approach legitimate concerns about inappropriate video game products being sold to kids and balance that with the realities of running stores? - George Anderson - Moderator