Biden: No legal problem with taxing violent games

United States Vice President Joe Biden believes it would be no problem to tax violent games. As part of a recent gun legislation strategy meeting with religious leaders, Biden said that an idea brought forth by Reverend Franklin Graham to tax violent media could be a smart move.

[Snookies12]

I was okay with Biden until this....

[coolbeans]

I'd consider that a surprising IF you've heard the plethora of inane comments he's made since '08 inauguration.

On topic, Biden's proposition doesn't sound correct either:

"Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas—and even social messages—through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player's interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection."

-One of the statements taken from the justices' decision in Brown vs. EMA

I don't see how they could wiggle themselves out of such recent decisions as the one listed above. But of course...Congress has been able to pass more bile than this before.

And to Rev. Graham:

Stay less out of politics (really? six tax?) and strive to move more people through the excellent missionary foundation started by your father.

[morganfell]

Agreed coolbeans. And you would have to live under a rock not to have heard some of the sheerly outrageous comments he has made. They do not call him Crazy Uncle Joe for nothing... The guy is a lunatic with absolutely no grasp of reality.

[aCasualGamer]

I feel sorry for all those who don't see through the politicians the way i do.

[HammadTheBeast]

How about we start taxing gun owners as well?

[Seraphim]

ok with Biden till this? Really, he was telling women to buy a double barrel 12 gauge for self defense. There's no need for an assault rifle he says, no need for that many rounds, and best of all, it's easier to shoot a 12 gauge than an assault rifle. Really? That's some funny stuff.

My problem, Government needs to quit frekn thinking about taxing. Enough already. And enough self righteous BS. We don't need government telling us what we can or can't do.... Drop the nonsense and get back to working on real national issues...

[Yi-Long]

.... OK, let's start taxing the hell out of The Bible! Pretty sure that's got a lot of violence in it.

Why stop there!? Let's tax religion! Because unlike videogames, religion has absolutely been proven to cause hate, intolerance and violence!

What an incredible dumb and shortsighted 'idea', and it's disrespectful towards the people who make (violent) videogames/movies/comics, who play/watch/read (violent) videogames/movies/comics, and most of all it's disrespectful towards the victims of these horrendous crimes, because it seems the actual problem that exists in our society still isn't being dealt with in a serious matter, because people like this reverend and Biden still prefer to go after scapegoats, instead of adressing the actual causes...

[LoveOfTheGame]

Stop using the word proven until you learn what it means. Religion does not cause those things, ignorance does.

I do like the tax Bible for violent media though...pretty funny. On that note did you guys know that the Bible is one of three items not taxed for being imported, tariff I believe the name of that tax is, along with bananas and coffee beans.

[DrRichtofen]

This sounds like a bunch of malarkey

[Bimkoblerutso]

I agree. This is pure poppycock.

[yeahokchief]

haha!

whatevs. gonna just use amazon/newegg exclusively to avoid sales tax if they do.

[yewles1]

'Sin' Tax? Really? I'm a religious man myself, but this garbage needs to be kept out of government. We need more clear heads in office. Humanity before god.

[Axonometri]

How about we have a tax on politicians who lie cheat steal or cover up the death of true American Hero's so they can continue to lie cheat steal and cover up?

[Majin-vegeta]

@Yewles I blame the moron's who vote these retards in office without researching crap first.

[KaBaW]

While I agree, if it's not these retards.. it's just other retards.
When was the last time that there has really been a good politician?
Most are there for the money and the paychecks; the retirement plan.
The rest are there for the power trip they get from 'controlling' people.

[ExPresident]

I have to laugh out loud because of all the people who said before they'd never go after video games.

[NYC_Gamer]

They would go after anything that could tax/make profit from

[animegamingnerd]

i wish it was possible to kick people who think this is a good idea off the planet ):

[abc1233]

These people are running the US? Dear god...

[animegamingnerd]

yup sadly they jack@$$ are no wonder why just about every country hates us

[kenshiro100]

Pretty much. Its sad alright...

[RuleofOne343]

So were going to tax games due to violence , so does that mean there will be a weapons tax seeing as how their used to commit Acts of violence & violent crimes .

O.T If were in need of cash why not revoke tax free exemptions for all institutions & organization ,Embassy's & make them pay. Enough with the free rides.

[Kevlar009]

Are movies, music, and books taxed for violence? If not than taxing video games for violence makes no sense. Wouldn't prevent parents from buying a game, would just piss off Devs/publishers. There would be quite a bit of public and business backlash. Doesn't seem worth it or even vary sane

[Tetsujin]

I'm going to try to keep this as on topic as possible:

If the Government would enforce the laws out now, help the mentally disabled population, and stop chasing garbage they shouldn't, ideas like this wouldn't have existed. I've grown up on violent media (mainly movies and video games), and yes to some degree I have some sort of mental issue (however I do know right from wrong) yet I don't go do some random act of violence then use games/movies as a scapegoat - it's called education, common sense, good parenting, and respect.

It's to the point that the important issues aren't even considered or talked about, however all it takes is some a-hole in office to have the idea to piss off the general public even more to either anarchy and/or a Civil War. Yes I understand there's worse countries out there when it comes to violent media, however don't say it's ok one day and the next try as hard as possible to "ban" it over a few people who the general public refuse to help.

Also why not actually promote parents to actively get involved with what their kids are doing, maybe then situations like this will be reduced; and yes I understand there's those few who you can't fix, however society as a whole needs to put in the effort to stop this kind of garbage.

[Unicron]

Keep your religion out of government, or be prepared to start being taxed. Really getting sick of people thinking they can have it both ways. This is not a theocracy.

[cr33ping_death]

Republicans wouldn't even second guess the idea. But its still funny how people believe games, music etc.. Cause violence... I love gore, violence, etc in my games and movies buut i hate violence in real life... Some people are just too stupid to separate the two.

[Reborn]

Well, I'm not surprised.

Of course there's no problem. It's a lot easier to blame some video game, rather than the actual individual who did the crime. It's such a sad time we live in, where people fail to comprehend that they need to start letting people take responsibility for their actions. I was always taught that every action has a consequence.

When video games wasn't around, and people were killing each other. Who did they blame then? The man in the circus?

[rainslacker]

Books, movies, and music all had their day in the spotlight as well. Video games are just the new thing to blame. One day video games will be as accepted as books, music, and movies, at which point, whatever the new entertainment trend is will have it's chance to shine....I'm thinking it'll be dolphin wrestling.

[Roccetarius]

Sometimes you have to cut off the roots of insipid poison in this world. Biden seems to be one of them, for all the insane things he says.

[Chapter11]

GOP and NRA campaign makes no sense. Guns are okay, but in video games and movies their bad? How does that make sense?

[KaBaW]

Well, obviously, it's because people are too dumb to think of using a weapon in real life to do harm to another individual.. without seeing it in a game or a movie.

Duuuh.

[sloth3395]

new Boston tea party going to happen over taxes

[ShaunCameron]

And all this goes to show is liberal and conservative politicians are one and the same.

[LAZL0-Panaflex]

Nah, I'm making 30% of what I was making when the other guy was running the country. Sure this guy speaks better, but he is trying to take our freedoms away, our guns away, and our way of life away. He wants everyone to be dependent on the government. Everyone demonized bush when gas hit $2.29 a gallon but no one says shit when it hits $3.69 on Obama's watch. Everyone believed the liberal medias lies. These 4 dead Americans aren't getting an investigation, everyone just calls republicans haters or "partisan". Hillary couldn't even protect a tiny embassy and she wants to protect a whole country come 2016?!...pssh! At least after 911 bush didn't let any other terrorists attack us for the remainder of his term. Obama is weak,...they say al queda is dead,..."on the run", "on other knees" ha! They said a video caused that attack, then why did they edit those transcripts 12 times. Your change ladies and gentlemen. You voted for a crew that lies straight to your face. Ask Serbian citizens what gun control is like! PS they're being slaughtered by their GOVERNMENT!...." oh that couldn't happen here!" Google Mao,hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Che Guevarra, Hugo Chavez, and see if their citizens were armed.

People are so stupid. Rest assured 20,30, maybe 50 years our grandkids will be playing a call of duty with a communist 12.5% black orator/community organizer that got voted in by a bunch of idiots,freeloaders, libtards, and other knuckle headed communists, then he disarms them leaving only the criminals armed, and the people who knows what's up and it will be up yo us to fight for our freedom. City by city state by state. Make a bad ass game. Its coming civil war 2.

The media has people thinking gun violence is up when its actually down 40% since 1993.
Funny how the states with the strictest gun laws have the most crime and murders.
Coldest spring since 1975, so much for global warming. Libtards.

Nice how algore flies around on a private jet and drives escalades,...wonder what his "carbon footprint" is. what a joke. I get my news from drude report and news busters now. MSNBC is a joke CNN is pretty bad too.

That's another thing....why do they dog fox news so much, what are they so worried about. Why they always shittin on black republicans or someone a black that disagrees with their messiah Obama, are blacks not allowed to form their own opinions?? Why can't we see Barry sotero I mean barracks birth certificate??

Mark my words there will be a call of duty based on our situation and those who fight back.

peace.

[Dirtnapstor]

Beautifully spoken... Give them an inch, they'll take miles and miles!

[KaBaW]

I don't understand why people don't think what happens in other countries, like with guns, won't happen here? It makes no sense to me, what so ever.

[LoveOfTheGame]

@LAZLO
Some of these idiotic statements makes me sad that I live in a red state and my vote will actually never matter...so I don't vote it's pointless. Gotta love the government and all the "rights" we get.

[ShaunCameron]

@ KaBaW

They're naive, and have been brainwashed into believing their constitutional rights are inalienable. How's that so when the Constitution is man-made and the government can suspend it via Executive Order?

And those other countries also naively thought that the government would make it "a better place" upon voting for them, ignoring the fact that throughout history liberal politicians, revolutionaries, etcetera were often wolves in sheep's clothing. Obama and Clinton (Hillary) are no exceptions.

[thebudgetgamer]

People in his posotion only say things for their voter base to belive in them, this is also the same guy that said you should get a shotgun and shoot through your door for protection.

[KaBaW]

lol, indeed. Someone in such high power tells people to break the law. :P

[C-Thunder]

Except there's this pesky thing called the constitution that stands in the way. Video games, like other media, are protected by freedom of speech. By taxing it based on its content, they would be infringing upon that freedom.

I like Joe, but politicians may want to consider understanding what they're talking about before opening their mouths.

[BuffMordecai]

Every time this joker speaks he makes a fool out of himself.

[titans9999]

Ho hummm, idiots with idiotic ideas, what else is new, this wont pass, I guarantee it!

[ajax17]

Damn taxes
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photo...

[e-p-ayeaH]

Politians...i hate them so much their discusting no morals no respect.

[ApolloTheBoss]

The amount of WAT can't even described.