A state bill sponsored by Missouri House member Rep. Diane Franklin is working to levy a one per cent tax on violent videogames based on their ESRB rating.
This is all according to House Bill No. 157, which states that any game with a teen, mature or adult only ESRB rating to be eligible for the tax. House Bill No. 157, which was presented to the Missouri house on Monday, has come as a response to the December Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newtown that left 28 people dead.
The purpose of the tax, would be to provide funding for the treatment of mental health conditions related to the exposure of violent videogames.
“History shows there is a mental health component to these shootings,” Franklin said, in a statement to the Associate Press.
Section B of the act outlines that ‘immediate action is necessary to protect the mental health of individuals exposed to videogames’, and also mentions that this act is being declared an emergency within the constitution.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama called on research to be done by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to see if there is a link between violent videogames and the recent string of shootings.
