N.J. lawmaker will try again to ban violent video games

A New Jersey lawmaker wants to limit children’s access to violent video games.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender is introducing legislation that would ban hotels, rest stops, boardwalks, and other public places from making video games with a mature or adults-only rating available for use.

She says studies show the violence in those games has a bad effect on children and increases aggressive behavior.

“All too often these games are acting as murder simulators. You’re putting kids in the place, the game player, in the position of being a shooter,” said Stender, D-Union. “They’re first-person shooter games, and it desensitizes our kids.”

The ban would be enforced under the state’s consumer fraud act with penalties up to $20,000.

Stender was unsuccessful in the past in getting the restrictions enacted. Now that the governor’s task force on violence is recommending the ban, she hopes it will become law.