A new bill has been proposed by Jim Matheson (R-Utah). Under this bill, it will be illegal for a person to rent or sell an AO rated video game to a person under 18 years and to ren or sell an M rated video game to a person under 17 years. The ESA themselves are condemning this action, stating that it is unconstitutional. http://www.gamespot.com/news/new-bill-would-make-esrb-ratings-legally-binding-6402554
And yet the ESA supported SOPA. Yeah, I've stopped supporting the ESA after that, but it doesn't change the fact that they're correct on calling this unconstitutional as every other bill like this has been shot down, even by the goddamn Supreme Court. Why congress insists on wasting everyone's time and taxpayer money with this is frustratingly beyond me.
In my opinion there's already plenty of restriction on this. Major retailers like Best Buy and Gamestop have carded me before when I've bought M-rated games. I don't know why they keep trying to pass a law to do this when stores already do it. It's just easier to follow the policy. I work in a movie theater, in the past we've been extremely lax about letting kids into R-Rated movies, but after complaints from parents and those seeing the movies, as well as having to deal with the arrogant 12-year-olds (sorry guys but 11 - 15 is the worst age for movie-goers), we've become rather no nonsense about it. I'm not for or against the policy, because I think if parents want to restrict what games their kids buy they should try actually paying attention to their kids rather than having the law do it. The ESRB clearly marks all games, it's up to the parent to decide what their child can and can't handle, to research what questionable content might be in the game, and to pay attention to what their kid is buying.
