At the beginning of March a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the family of Dave Sanders, a teacher who was fatally shot during the Columbine massacre.
Sanders’ family had sued Time Warner, Acclaim Entertainment, Atari Corp. and Nintendo of America arguing that movies and videogames produced by those companies unduly influenced gunmen Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17.
The judge ruled that the Kelbold and Harris were responsible for the death of Sanders, not video games and movies the two killers may have watched.
Meanwhile, outraged by the bestselling Playstation 2 game Grand Theft Auto III, legislators in Michigan are pushing for a law that would make it a crime to rent or sell violent videogames to minors. Failing to abide by the law would result in penalty of up to $1,000 and possible jail time.
The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has decided not to get involved in the legislation, saying it does not pose a risk of censorship. The Detroit Free Press’s quoted its lawyer, Herschel Fink, noting that the same reasoning could be used to prevent children from buying newspapers which might contain graphic descriptions of the death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (or even accounts of the 9/11 terrorist attack for that matter).
Sources:
Bill to keep violent games from minors. Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press, March 5, 2002.
U.S. judge dismisses Columbine suit against media. Reuters, March 4, 2002.