Lawmakers sworn to uphold constitution, vote for law they believe is unconstitutional

The Illinois house has passed a bill banning the sales of violent or sexually explicit video games to teens.

Even some lawmakers who believe it is unconstitutional ended up voting for the measure, which passed the House 91-19.

"There is a game out there that makes you the assassin for JFK. There is a game out there that makes you the rapist. There is a game out there that makes you the person who decapitates somebody," Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, said.

He said he is so appalled by the situation that he voted for the measure, even though as a lawyer he believes it is unconstitutional. He said the bill's definitions of "violent" and "sexually explicit" are so vague that retailers will have difficulty discerning what can be sold legally to teens.

So much for their oath to uphold the constitution. Guess they had their fingers crossed when they took the oath?

More worthless efforts to solve problems by placing the blame where it least belongs and attempting to accomplish the un-accomplishable. Well, if it makes them feel better, maybe it's worth the hundreds of thousands it will cost? This will have about as much effect as keeping kids out of "R" rated movies currently does. Thousands of kids will get around the lightly enforced measure and see the movie at the theatre, and if not, they'll just watch them at home. In much the same way, kids will find some way to view these games, whether it's by getting an older teen to buy them for them, or going to someone's house that has one, or some other means.

This measure accomplishes next to nothing but giving some unimaginative legislators some copy for their next campaign. When you can scan the TV channels at any given time and 2/3rds of them are showing some sort of violent programming, especially on the conservative's favorite, FOX, pointing the finger at video games is missing the mark.