Local Chicago rep. Marcus Evans proposed a bill that would ban the sale of “violent” video games like Grand Theft Auto to stop carjacking and other crimes in the city. Evans says the bill is supposed to be bipartisan and would prevent the sale of games that promote “human on human” violence that often plays itself out in his community. The bill would only affect the state of Illinois. No word on the method by which this “ban” on certain video games would actually be enforced.
Attempting to ban video games appears like an obvious case of attacking low-hanging fruit in order to avoid real problems. This bill is not the first one to try and point the finger at video games for problems with violence in society. Grand Theft Auto made its debut in 1997 and the current iteration of the game – GTA V – first appeared eight years ago in 2013. If the game is such a menace, then why wait until 2021 to make a move to ban it?
Real problems exist in Chicago that dwarf any potential argument that supports the banning of Grand Theft Auto and other games like it. The most obvious problem in the state of Illinois is the top to bottom corruption. Elected officials have gone to prison, other elected officials have been shielded from punishment by other corrupt officials, criminals that should be in prison are set free to continue to terrorize “communities of color”, and the beat goes on. Corruption is an issue to varying degrees all over the country, but Chicago is notorious for it.
Then, of course, is the issue with gang violence. Current gangs that exist today have been around since at least the 60’s and 70’s following the Civil Rights Movement which birthed the Black Panthers and then black street gangs. Before Civil Rights, there was the Al Capone prohibition days of the 30’s. Violence has been a mainstay in certain areas of the city and that has not changed. The only change has come in the form of peaks and valleys in the number of dead bodies collected from the ground within the city limits of Chicago and Chicago suburbs.
Chicago, and the state of Illinois, has been dominated by the Democratic party for decades. Parts of the city and state are beautiful and relatively crime-free. Then there are other parts which are completely neglected by the residents and politicians to the point where they are simply battlefields. Politicians do nothing about the problem other then get softer on crime which, of course, makes the problem worse. And rather than admitting some fault or enacting laws on the books to make bad areas of their constituency somewhat better, politicians come up with wacky bills that ban video games.
SOURCES:
Ban sale of Grand Theft Auto, other violent video games, state Rep. Marcus Evans says – Chicago Sun-Times
Foxx Faces Scrutiny From Voters, Panel Over Smollett – NBC Chicago
Chicago’s not-so-random gang violence: 6% of gang factions tied to most shootings researcher Andrew Papachristos of Northwestern University studied – Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago gun violence prompts calls for street gang truce on 28th anniversary in shooting death of Dantrell Davis – ABC7 Chicago
Chicago Sees Its Most Violent Month In 28 Years As Murders, Shootings Skyrocket
$15 Minimum Wage for Chicago by 2021
Chicago’s minimum wage to rise to $15 by 2021 – Chicago Tribune
Trapped in Chicago’s worst schools: Education outcomes in Chicago’s lowest-performing public schools | Illinois Policy
