March 15, 2021 – Citing an increase in carjackings in his district, an Illinois lawmaker wants the state to ban the sale of violent video games, including the popular Grand Theft Auto.
Sponsored by state Representative Marcus Evans Jr., D-Chicago, House Bill 3531 would change law restricting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors to prohibit the sale of all violent video games. It would also add the act of carjacking to the description of games that would be banned.
“We have a huge issue here in some cities and some towns with carjackings,” he said. “Thinking about some of the influences of some young people, potentially, I filed this bill as an idea to get us thinking about ways to curb this terrible, terrible deviant behavior of carjacking.”
Evans, who said he grew up playing Grand Theft Auto, has yet to garner any support from his colleagues in the form of co-sponsorships on the bill since it was filed in February. That’s typically a sign that it’s unlikely to move forward.
Grand Theft Auto, the most notable example of carjackings in a video game, hasn’t released a new version of the popular video game franchise since 2013 but still maintains a strong following via online play. Evan’s district, and others in the Chicago area, have seen a rash of carjackings in recent months. According to Chicago Police, they’d received more than 350 reports of carjackings in January and February.
Experts on the matter contend that there’s likely little correlation between video games and violent behavior.
