Violent Video Game Tax Proposed After Parkland Shooting

As America looks for answers in the wake of the shooting massacre of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, some politicians have returned to the 1990s tactic of blaming video games for violence. Kentucky governor Matt Bevin started the show a couple of days after the shooting, and on Wednesday, Rhode Island state representative Bobby Nardolillo took it a step further. Nardolillo proposed legislation that would put a 10 percent tax on video games with an ESRB rating of Mature or higher, Rolling Stone reported. That tax revenue would be used to fund "counseling, mental health programs and other conflict resolution activities" in schools, according to the press release on Nardolillo's Facebook page. Both Nardolillo and Bevin have high ratings from the NRA. It is not controversial to say that many of the most popular video games are violent; five of the top 10 selling games of 2017 were about shooting guns and three of them would be taxed under Nardolillo's proposed regulations.