Is Stunted Social Development Worth Our Civil Liberties?

Earlier this year, as I am sure many of you remember (in agony), we wrote a paper on civil liberties in war time.  Now there were certainly the extremes on both sides, but most of you probably wrote that it was acceptable to violate civil liberties for the sake of national security.  Well, my junior theme has made me revisit this very topic only it is a little different this time.  I am exploring why video game regulation is so controversial.

Just to give some brief background information, the current state is that video games are completely self regulated.  There are ratings and some stores do enforce them, however technically speaking, it is your constitutional right to buy games like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and even a game like Postal (where you can corpses on fire, mutilate/decapitate other players etc.) even if you are, say 12 years old.  It is similar to the way some coffee shops don't serve caffeinated beverages to particularly young children, parents are advised about the risks, venders are told to use discretion, but at the end of the day, it is your first amendment right to buy that product.  There have been 9 separate attempts to change this, but every time, the supreme court has deemed regulating video games unconstitutional.

Now, back to civil liberties.  The reason so many states want to regulate these games is that recent studies show that exposure to violent video games certainly causes adolescents to feel more aggressive and less sensitive and in some cases, could cause adolescents to act more aggressively.  Take a look at this summary from the American Psychological Association of the more important studies regarding violent video game exposure over the past decade.   But its not that simple, the studies do not prove that violent video game cause adolescents to ACT aggressively, they only prove that adolescents tend to FEEL more aggressive after playing them.  And Many aren't sympathetic to kids feeling aggressive enough to give up essential liberties.

Surprisingly, even with this research however, not one single case out of nine has resulted in allowing lawmakers to abridge Civil Liberties.  What do you think?  Do you think the scientific findings of the past decade pose a legitimate threat to American citizens and merit the regulation of violent video game sales to minors?