The Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) has issued an alert urging members of the community to let the U.S. Senate know that you think Senator Rockefeller's bill to study violent video games is a misguided mistake. Why?

Because the Senator has publicly stated that this bill and the result of it are simply a step towards government regulation of video games. The bill, S. 134, calls for the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the connection between the "exposure to violent video games and video programming and harmful effects on children."

Connecticut State Representative Debralee Hovey (R-112th District) isn't the only one that introduced a bill in the January session apparently. Connecticut State Senator Toni Nathaniel Harp (D-10th District) introduced S.B. No.

The Escapist reports that Connecticut State Representative Debralee Hovey (R-112th District) has introduced H.B. No. 5735, or "an act establishing a sales tax on certain video games." The bill would add a ten percent tax in Connecticut on video games rated "Mature" by the ESRB, which would then be redirected to the State's department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

This week's show focuses on indie developers and an excellent editorial on various bills aimed at video game violence. This week hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight talk about an indie game that got a Canadian gentleman fired from his day job, another indie developer calling Kickstarter stretch goals "bullsh*t," and a discussion on this Popcults.com editorial. All this and the latest GamePolitics poll results await in Episode 39.

Earlier this month we reported that the Massechusetts Department of Transportation pulled arcade shooting games from Mass Turnpike rest stops after a single complaint from a Newtown, Connecticut family including such titles as Time Crisis and Beach Head 2000.

In a discussion about gun violence and gun control, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) says that games are way more problematic than weapons because "they affect people." Weapons apparently don't affect people, except the fact that they put holes in them where blood can leak out... Speaking today on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd, Alexander said video games are a greater societal threat than guns.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) went to Washington D.C last week to talk to members of Congress and their staff about the connection between video games and violence, and their conclusion was that Congress does not have the best interests of the millions of gamers in America in mind. The ECA says that when they tried to talk to lawmakers about the connection between video games and real-world violence they came away from those meetings feeling like lawmakers were not interested in the facts and instead were relying on their own biases and preferences about the video games.

Last week California State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) said that gamers had no credibility when it came to the discussion of violent video games. More precisely the author of the California bill that was at the center of the Supreme Court case Brown v. EMA said:

"Gamers have got to just quiet down," Yee, D-San Francisco, said in an interview last Tuesday. "Gamers have no credibility in this argument. This is all about their lust for violence and the industry's lust for money. This is a billion-dollar industry. This is about their self-interest."

On this week's show hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight talk about SimCity's EULA fiasco, all the stupid things said about video game violence by various politicians, and the latest GamePolitics poll. Download it now: SuperPAC Episode 38 (1 hour, 4 minutes) 58.4 MB.

In direct response to last month’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the following has happened:

Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) gave a speech (which you can watch for yourself to your left) during Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D- CA) press conference introducing a new bill that would ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Murphy said that if Feinstein's bill had been law many of the children that died during the December 14 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut might still be alive. Senator Murphy also blamed video games for their part in influencing the shooter, though proof that video games had anything to do with influencing him has yet to be produced.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced legislation this week echoing what President Obama asked for earlier in the month: extensive research on the effects of violent video games and other media on children. The study would be overseen by the National Academy of Sciences. Rockefeller introduced the bill before the end of the last Congress's term but ran out of time to get a floor vote. Now it seems that his bill has a lot more support from both parties.

The San Francisco Chronicle offers an in-depth article on how video games have been drawn into the discussion on gun violence featuring quotes from California State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) , IGDA Executive Director executive director, and Ian Bogost, professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) issued an action alert asking the Internet community and ECA members to let Rep. Jim Metheson's colleagues in the House of Representatives know that his proposed bill, the "Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act" (H.R. 287), is a big mistake for a number of reasons.

Former long-shot U.S. presidential candidate and consumer protection advocate is making waves today after comparing the video game industry and the products they create to "electronic child molesters." The comment was made as part of a wider criticism of President Barack Obama's new plan to reduce gun violence and his inauguration yesterday. Speaking to Politico, Nader said that the president's proposals do not go far enough in regulating the video game industry.

UPDATE: Read the bill here.  (Credit: The Hill)

IGN has a pretty interesting feature on the video game industry taking part in Vice-President Joe Biden's Gun Violence Commission called "The Politics of Violence." What is interesting about this feature is that it solicits the opinions of "20 of the top game writers" in the United States including Adam Sessler from Rev3 Games, Ben Kuchera from Penny Arcade Report, Ben Silverman from Yahoo!

It should not come as any surprise that Vice-President Joe Biden's Commission on Gun Violence delivered 19 recommendations on how to deal with... gun violence, with the key word being "gun." Despite much ado about a meeting late last week with video game industry executives, trade groups, and five researchers, Biden didn't seem all that interested in taking on the industry but did tell those gathered at the meeting that the video game industry needed to improve its image with the general public.

Missouri State Rep. Diane Franklin (R-Camdenton) put forth a bill on Monday proposing that the state charge a 1 percent tax on "violent video games," with the funds to be used for mental health programs and law enforcement efforts related to the prevention of mass shootings. This tax would apply to games rated Teen, Mature, and Adults Only by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

It's hard to argue against a culture of violence influencing children when you release an iOS app that teaches kids ages 4+ how to aim a gun and more accurately shoot. Not that the newly released NRA-licensed game developed by MEDL Mobile, Inc. will turn your tiny tot into a killing machine - nor does the game include any type of violent content save the ability to fire a handgun at human shaped targets and clay targets. And to its credit, the game also offers plenty of safety tips for players to keep them from doing stupid things - we assume - in real life.

On CNN's State of the Union with host Candy Crowley, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TENN.) sat in on a panel discussion about gun control and the likelihood of legislation being passed by the current Congress. But instead of discussing gun control, Blackburn decided to take a few shots at Activision's Call of Duty series. Blackburn said that in preparation to appear on the show she watched some video of the game and was shocked at the violence she saw... she also called the game "Call to Duty."

75-year-old (and super rich!) U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D - West Virginia) announced today that he will not be seeking a sixth term when his current one ends in 2014.

We've devoted a fair amount of ink to Rockefeller over the last few weeks.  A mere three days after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last month, Rockefeller introduced a bill that would have the U.S. National Academy of Sciences study how video games and other media like films and television affect children.

Mayor Robert Dolan of Melrose, Massachusetts revealed on Thursday that the city will launch an initiative similar to one put forward and then canceled by community leaders in the town of Southington, Connecticut.

Jay Rockefeller's bill to have the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission conduct a study in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences about the effects of violent video games on America's youth died when the 112th session of Congress ended on January 2. And while that might be good news for the very short term, there's no doubt that the Democratic Senator from West Virginia plans to introduce the exact same bill to the Senate later this month.

In an article talking about various groups meeting with Joe Biden's task force on gun violence this week in Washington, Ad Week points out that groups like Common Sense Media want to curtail ads for games during television shows, movies and big sporting events like NFL football.

Politico put together a top-ten list of violent video games that are being mentioned by anti-game forces as part of a culture of violence influencing people. While they are citing groups like Common Sense Media and the National Rifle Association in their gallery of gruesome games, the most notable thing about the feature is how dated all the selections really are.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) has issued a call to action this morning calling on the gaming community and its members to email their representatives in Congress and the President of the United States to let them know that blaming video games for the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut is wrong-headed, and that there is no research to suggest that there is a correlation between gun violence in America and playing video games.

Last week SouthingtonSOS, a group comprised of Southington, Connecticut community organizations announced a violent videogame buyback program, where citizens could deposit violent games into what basically amounted to a trash bin for a gift certificate provided by local merchants. Those game discs would be snapped and tossed in the trash...

Reuters is reporting that the National Rifle Association, victims of gun violence, gun safety groups, gun owners, and unnamed representatives from the film and video game industries will meet with Vice-President Joe Biden's task force set up to come up with solutions and answers in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut that resulted in the death of 20 children and six adults.

Drawing conclusions based on a lack of evidence is not mutually exclusive to politicians in America and in Europe, as evidenced in this Peninsula report. According to the publication, one politician in the Philippines is indirectly blaming video and arcade games for the recent rash of shootings in the country.