Des Moines, Iowa – State Representative Ro Foege of Mt. Vernon is sponsoring a bill in the Iowa House to help parents keep violent and explicit video games away from their children.

"Some of the more popular video games on the market are full of graphic violence and sexual situations that are not appropriate for children," said Foege. "It is appalling what some of these video game companies are producing and luring children into buying and playing. Most parents do the best they can to monitor the video games that their children play, but it's nearly impossible to catch everything. The plan I sponsored today gives parents one more tool to ensure their kids aren’t buying violent and explicit video games without their permission."

House File 2104 forbids employees of retail outlets from selling or renting violent or sexually explicit video games to minors. Employees would use the video game industry rating system already on packages to help determine what is appropriate to sell to children. In additional to the rating system, retailers would be required to label all violent and sexually explicit games with a white "18" sticker.

"The bottom line is that the entertainment industry wants to sell as many violent and explicit video games as they can produce," concluded Foege. "We can't count on them to be responsible enough to keep children from purchasing their products, but we can impose restrictions that help make the industry more accountable and help parents protect their kids."

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