“The bill would prohibit the sale of some of these games that promote the activities we’re suffering from in our communities,” Evans told the Sun Times.

Neither Evans nor Walker provided data outside of their own observations to support a correlation between games such as Grand Theft Auto and the violence done in their communities. There have been studies which suggest that violent video games do not correlate to real-world violence. Federal crime statistics show that serious violent crimes among young people have decreased since 1996, despite the meteoric rise of video game sales over that timeframe, according to the 2010 Review of American Psychology. A more recent study from The Royal Society Publishing indicates minimal, if any, correlation between violence in video games and real-life aggression. However, On March 3 the APA reaffirmed its stance that violent video games encourage violent behavior.

Violent video games have been at the center of debate from lawmakers for decades. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump condemned “gruesome and violent video games” following a number of mass shootings across the U.S. In 2013, his predecessor Barack Obama made similar comments following mass shootings and pushed Congress to fund research into the impact of violent video games.

The bill itself speaks to updating how retailers label and sell violent video games, but does not address how it plans to moderate cloud sales of such games.

Evans and Walker did not immediately respond to VENN’s request for comment.

Photo courtesy of Rockstar Games