Connecticut Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden) is asking the games industry to stop making licensing deals with gun manufacturers.
In a letter sent to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick, Valve Corporation Managing Director Gabe Newell, and Entertainment Software Association CEO Michael Gallagher, Sharkey requested their cooperation in "ending the nefarious relationship between video game makers and gun makers" that allows real-world guns to be licensed for use in games.
Though admitting that research has "shown little connection between the virtual gun violence depicted in your games and the actual gun violence that claims the lives of 33 Americans every single day," Sharkey linked these licensing deals to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14 in which 20 children and six adults were killed.
Gunman Adam Lanza, he points out, was a Call of Duty player and used a Bushmaster rifle in the attack. Bushmaster rifles appear in various Call of Duty games, which are published by Activision.
Noting that Electronic Arts announced earlier this year that it was severing licensing ties to gun manufacturers, Sharkey writes that "we have to take steps to institute meaningful change in the way we portray, and effectively market, assault weapons to children and young adults."
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Via Gamespot
Chuck Osborn is Managing Editor at IGN. He plays Dungeon Raid on his iPhone waaaaay too much. Keep up with his demented ravings on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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