Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va) said Monday that
Congress needs to address the issue of violent images on video games and TV.
In
a statement driven by the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the senator, a
longtime critic of media violence, said: "We need to look at the violence our
kids see every day starting at a young age. By the time children reach 18
years old, they have seen tens of thousands of violent images -- on television,
the internet, or video games. As parents, research confirms what we
already know -- these violent images have a negative impact on our children's
wellbeing."
He
wasn't ready to lay the blame for the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook
Elementary on the media, but he suggested it was part of a conversation that
includes access to guns and mental health. "While we don't know if such
images impacted the killer in Newtown," he said,
"the issue of violent content is serious and must be addressed."
Following
the nation's deadliest mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2010, Rockefeller
renewed his push for government oversight of violent media content. While the
FCC has regulations on indecency, it has no similar rules limiting violent
content.
Rockefeller
has tried unsuccessfully on a number of occasions to pass media violence
legislation that would give the FCC explicit authority to regulate TV violence.
