Trading Standards officers in Plymouth, England has used all the wit and wiles at their disposal to uncover a chilling fact - Plymouth merchants are selling children violent video games, and knives. Out of 34 shops tested using 16-year-old spies, five out of nine sold the underage teens violent games, while two out of twenty-five stores tested armed the teenagers with sharpened steel. Operation leader and Fair Trading Officer Lynda Braddock was understandably disappointed.
"The statistics for knife sales are encouraging but it's still disappointing to find some shops not on board with this issue especially bearing in mind the media coverage on knife crime in recent months...And we're disappointed that the games sellers concerned don't seem to have taken their training on board or recognised the fact that these games are given a high age rating for a reason."
Personally I think the statistics better reflect the public's perceived threat of their children playing with knives versus their children playing violent video games, but I'm known to be a bit biased. I'm just glad that we're all sensible enough to see a headline like this and not associate violent video games with knife violence.
"As for violent video games, I believe they must have a detrimental influence on any children who play them and I would not be at all surprised if there was not a connection with the knife crime issue. Everyone who sells these games must take extra care to ensure they only sell them to those who can legally buy them.
Okay, all of us except for Councillor Michael Leaves, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Environmental Regulation in Plymouth. Luckily for us, in the UK your importance and influence lessens the longer your title is. The news is far too cluttered lately with stories about violent video games and knives, so I for one am glad they're starting to combine the two. I look forward to reading about how easily children can get their hands on the materials to make a dirty bomb and Grand Theft Auto in the near future. Shops Caught Selling Violent Games And Knives To Children [This Is Plymouth]