Ban on Violent Video Games Approved in Venezuela

Venezuela’s parliament at the behest of socialist dictator Hugo Chavez approved a law that bans the import, production, and sale of violent video games within the country, reports GamePolitics. The law also applies to toy guns. The article doesn’t specify if that means no Supersoakers either.

The law was approved late last week and will go into effect within three months. Penalties for violation features three to five years in prison for each offense. The government would run campaigns on the dangers of video games and give full authority to its “consumer protection society” on what games to ban.

The article posts of few excerpts of an article written by 26 year old Venezuelan gamer Guido Núñez-Mujica to express his distaste for the new law. Government harassment is sure to follow:

“This law makes selling video games to anybody actually worse than giving real guns or cigarettes to a minor, or even forcing him or her to work, as you get less jail time and lower fines if you do any of those things.

These games are a cherished part of my life, they helped to shape my young mind, they gave me challenges and vastly improved my English, opening the door to a whole new world of literature, music and people from all around the world. Now, thanks to the tiny horizons of the cast of morons who govern me, thanks to the stupidity and ham-fisted authoritarianism of the local authorities, so beloved of so many liberals, my 7 year old brother’s chances to do the same could be greatly impacted.

But I’d rather go to jail than betray the gamer culture, partially responsible for making me the person I am today.”