The Federation Council proposed to tighten control over video games after the tragedy in Kazan
Against the background of the tragedy in Kazan, Senator Alexander Bashkin proposed to strengthen control over the content of video games. He believes that games glorify violence and can lead to shootings in schools.
Alexander Bashkin (Photo: Global Look Press)
On the morning of May 11, a fire was opened in Kazan at school No. 175.
The shooter — a 19-year-old teenager, a former student of the school — shot children and teachers. Before he was arrested, he managed to kill 9 people, another 32 were injured.
According to RIA Novosti, in response to the tragedy, the Federation Council proposed not only to strengthen control over the issuance of permits for the purchase of weapons (the killer acquired it legally), but also to revise the policy regarding video games.
According to Senator Alexander Bashkin, it is worth tightening control over games that glorify violence. He believes that they can lead to tragedies similar to the one that occurred in Kazan.
“In these games, pieces of meat fly, blood splashes fly, continuous violence — it can be extremely dangerous for the unformed adolescent psyche,” said a member of the Federation Council from the Astrakhan region.
For this reason, Bashkin proposed to extend concepts such as “desirable and undesirable content” to games.
There is no information that the teenager was fond of video games. But the Medusa publication reports that a few days ago a teenager started a Telegram channel in which he called himself “god” and threatened to “kill a huge amount of biomusor.”
Because of the shooting, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already instructed the head of the Rosgvardiya to prepare new regulations on what types of weapons can be allowed to be purchased by the civilian population.
In Russia, since September 1, 2012, the Federal Law “On the Protection of children from information that harms their health and development” has been in force. He introduces the age marking. However, it is mandatory only for information in online media, for content on audiovisual services and for advertising information products on any Internet sites. The labeling of video games is advisory in nature.
As for the law on mandatory labeling, it has been in the works for a long time. Its first version was proposed for consideration back in 2019. Then the draft law was not supported by the Cabinet of Ministers. One of the authors of the labeling law is Bashkin.
