71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .
 
 LC 4277
 
                    House Joint Resolution 69
 
Sponsored by Representative VERGER, Senator MESSERLE;
  Representatives ACKERMAN, BARNHART, BATES, BECK, BROWN, BUTLER,
  DEVLIN, DINGFELDER, GARDNER, GARRARD, HANSEN, HASS, HOPSON,
  JENSON, JOHNSON, KAFOURY, KING, KRIEGER, KROPF, KRUMMEL, LEE,
  LEONARD, LOWE, MARCH, MERKLEY, MONNES ANDERSON, MORGAN,
  MORRISETTE, NOLAN, PATRIDGE, ROSENBAUM, SCHRADER, P SMITH, T
  SMITH, V WALKER, WESTLUND, WILSON, WINTERS, WIRTH, ZAUNER,
  Senators ATKINSON, L BEYER, R BEYER, BURDICK, CARTER, CLARNO,
  COURTNEY, DECKERT, DUNCAN, FERRIOLI, FISHER, GORDLY, HARPER,
  HARTUNG, METSGER, MINNIS, NELSON, SHIELDS, STARR, YIH (at the
  request of Danielle Shimotakahara)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Urges owners of video arcades to restrict children's access to
violent video games. Encourages use of rating system that
identifies violent video games.
 
                        JOINT RESOLUTION
  Whereas the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, the American
Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics
have concluded that viewing entertainment violence can lead to
increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behaviors,
particularly in children; and
  Whereas the American Medical Association in its policy
statement on mass media violence and film ratings encourages its
members to speak out against the excessive portrayal of violence
in the entertainment media, including video and computer games;
and
  Whereas the FBI in its report entitled, 'The school shooter:  A
threat assessment perspective,' September 2000, lists '
fascination with violence-filled entertainment' and 'spending
inordinate amounts of time playing video games with violent
themes' as warning signs of impending gun-related school
violence; and
  Whereas recent academic literature corroborates the findings of
earlier studies that exposure to violent video games produces
aggressive behaviors in children and young people; and
  Whereas growing evidence of the harmful effects of violent
video games led the 106th Congress to investigate the impact of
these games on minor children; and
  Whereas violent, point-and-shoot video games are such effective
combat simulators that the law enforcement and military
 
communities use these extensively to train soldiers to accurately
and effectively shoot real humans in combat; and
  Whereas, in the short term, playing a violent video game
appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts; and
  Whereas long-term effects are also likely as each violent video
game player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts
that can become more accessible for use when real-life conflict
situations arise; and
  Whereas in July 2000 the American Medical Association, the
American Psychological Association, the American Academy of
Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry issued a joint statement, warning that more than 1,000
studies point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media
violence and aggressive behavior in some children; and
  Whereas research by the National Institute on Media and the
Family indicates that children who play violent games see the
world as a more hostile place, argue with teachers more
frequently, are more likely to be involved in physical fights and
do not perform as well in school; and
  Whereas surveys by the National Institute on Media and the
Family indicate that only 24 percent of adolescents say their
parents 'always' or 'often' limit the amount of time children are
allowed to play video games, while 43 percent say their parents
'never' impose time limits; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  That we, the members of the Seventy-first Legislative Assembly:
  (1) Recognize the efforts of Danielle Shimotakahara for
bringing the issue of video game violence and its effects on
children to our attention.
  (2) Commend Gameworks Arcades, owned by Steven Spielberg, for
prohibiting anyone under 16 years of age from playing the most
violent red-labeled games.
  (3) Ask that the rating stickers produced for the coin-operated
amusement industry's Coin-Operated Video Game Parental Advisory
System be prominently displayed on each machine.
  (4) Ask that violent video games bearing red or yellow stickers
be placed in an age-restricted area separate from the location of
the nonviolent games bearing green stickers, thus protecting
young children from seeing or playing the more violent games.
  (5) Ask that the 'Guide to Coin Operated Video Games ' poster
be prominently displayed in any business that has video games in
order to inform patrons of the meaning of each sticker.
  (6) Encourage video arcade owners to acknowledge the
long-lasting effects that violent video games have on children.
  (7) Urge owners of video arcades to voluntarily segregate
violent games from more innocuous offerings and to prevent
children from playing the violent games unless accompanied by a
parent or guardian.
  (8) Encourage parents to be proactive in monitoring their
children's exposure to violent video games.
  (9) Encourage Oregonians as a community to take steps to
empower parents and protect young people from extremely violent
and sexually explicit video games.
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