Supreme Court debates law that would ban minors from buying violent video games

Violence, death and destruction.  Those are the hallmarks of one of the most anticipated video games of the year.  Last night, people lined up outside Best Buy in Cedar Rapids for the midnight release of “Call of Duty: Black Ops”.

It's one in a series of first-person shooter games coming out this month.  But with the game's “mature” rating comes concern over censorship.  US Supreme Court justices are still debating a state law that would ban minors from being able to purchase violent video games.  Currently in Iowa, there are no such laws.  And this game's arrival sparks a long-time debate over video game access.

“We had close to 150-200 people come in last night to purchase the game,” said Best Buy Digital Life Supervisor.

The last version of Call of Duty set a single-day record with more than $400-million in sales.  The allure?

“All three of us play together,” said parent Steve Drysdale.

For father of two Steve Drysdale playing and paying is a family affair.

“Each one of my kids is paying $20 and I'm paying $20 for the game,” said Drysdale.

Drysdale has to buy it himself because of Best Buy's policy against minors buying “m” rated games.

But a new California case before the US Supreme Court could mandate a statewide policy to ban the sale of violent video games to minors.

“The reason California wants to restrict the games is because of the presumed affects on kids to become more aggressive,” said University of Iowa Professor Julie Andsager.

And if the court upholds that law it could have a rippling effect right here in Iowa.

“Other states could also put those bans in place if its constitutional.  There's nothing to say Iowa couldn't do the same thing,” said Andsager.

For University of Iowa professor Julie Andsager, any such law hinders first amendment rights.

“It allows the courts to have a precedent for more regulation.  In general,more free speech is better than less,” said Andsager.

Drysdale says the power should be with the parents and not the courts.

“Each parent has to make the decision about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable for their kids,” said Drysdale.

A Federal court threw out the California law banning minors from buying violent video games citing free speech rights.  And that's what led to the final appeal to The Supreme Court.  The justices have yet to make a decision on that case.