Kmart, Wal-Mart Ban Sale of Violent Games to Youths

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 8 -- Young people itching to wreak virtual havoc with an Uzi via their Playstation will have to bring along a parent if they want to buy a violent video game from some major retailers.

Kmart announced Thursday it will refuse sale of mature-ratedgames to anyone under 17, using a barcode scanner that will promptcashiers to ask for identification from youths.

After Kmart’s news conference in Washington, Wal-Mart announcedit would enact the same policy. In a letter last month to AlabamaSen. Jeff Sessions, the president of Toys R Us said the practice isalready in place at his company’s stores.

Targets Retailers

Sessions applauded the move, but said he would prefer thatretailers stop selling mature-rated games, as Montgomery Ward andSears, Roebuck and Co. already have done.

Sessions said he believes “intense involvement” with violentvideo games can cause a young person to become violent.

“Common sense should tell us that positively reinforcingsadistic behavior, as these games do, cannot be good for ourchildren,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

“We cannot expect that the hours spent in school will mold andinstruct a child’s mind but that hours spent playing violent gameswill not.”

Kmart executives said they believe their policy lets parentsmake decisions about video games.

“A step of responsibility that gets the parents involved is asmart step, rather than just walking away from the issue andletting someone else deal with it,” said Shawn Kahle, Kmart’s vicepresident of corporate affairs.

In May, Sessions, Brownback and seven other senators sent aletter to executives of Kmart and several other major retailersencouraging them to pull the games off their shelves or preventtheir sale to anyone younger than 17.

Lieberman ‘Encouraged’

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democratic vicepresidential nominee, was among those who signed the letter writtenby Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark.