Zodo

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/21/sc....ap/index.html

Supreme Court refused Tuesday to revive a lawsuit that blamed Hollywood for a school shooting in Kentucky.

The case questioned the responsibility of moviemakers and other entertainment companies for video games and other products that feature violence.

The court did not comment in rejecting an appeal filed by the families of three girls killed in 1997 at a high school near Paducah, Kentucky. They argued that entertainment companies were wrongly using the First Amendment free speech protection to shield themselves from lawsuits.

An appeals court ruled last year that the parents could not sue companies behind video games, a pornographic Web site and a movie studio. The content of their products are protected by the First Amendment, the court held.

The families claimed in their $33 million suit that the companies were responsible for the slayings because they exposed the 14-year-old gunman, Michael Carneal, to violent and sexual images.

Carneal used a stolen gun to shoot students in the school lobby. The three girls were killed and five others hurt.



Man I'm glad these people looking for a quick buck got shut down.

nickdawgy

if he was influenced by videogames, then we'd better all boycott them.... lol

While we're at it, let's stop watching South Park, Jackass, and pretty much any action movie out there.

I am tired of any movie, game, or CD with a mature theme getting blamed for teching these moronic kids to commit these horrible crimes. Uh hello parents, how about blaming yourselves instead of others?

dgc

They should have blamed McDonald's coffee.

I'm suing Weber gas grills because the arsonist that burned my house down owned one.

finbogg

Because we all know it couldn't possibly be the parents fault.

Maybe Hollywood should countersue them for allowing their kid to see stuff he's obviously too young to see.

milo bloom

I used to live 20 miles from Paducah, and the problem isn't games, it's the massive gun culture. Now I'm all for the right to bare arms; a well armed populace is the best check and balance for a corrupt government. But guns are just so prevalent down there. My classmates would regularly skip school for the first day of hunting season, and regularly tell tales of the one they bagged or that got away. It's so much a part of their lives that they don't think there's any other way to solve a problem. Then when you get a kid that goes nuts like this one, they turn to the only thing that's been there, their gun.