US Lawmakers Move To Ban Grand Theft Auto Amid Surge In Carjackings

Lawmakers in Illinois are pushing to ban games such as Grand Theft Auto amid a surge in carjackings.

Chicago Police Department responded to 218 carjackings last month, continuing an upward trend which saw 1,417 carjackings reported in the city last year - more than double the amount in 2019.

Now, Rep. Marcus Evans Jr. wants to amend a 2012 law preventing the sale of some video games to minors so that it bans the sale of any video games depicting 'psychological harm', including 'motor vehicle theft with a driver or passenger present'.

Rockstar Games

The amendment also seeks to redefine the definition of a violent video game to one in which players 'control a character within the video game that is encouraged to perpetuate human-on-human violence in which the player kills or otherwise causes serious physical or psychological harm to another human or animal'.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Evans said: "The bill would prohibit the sale of some of these games that promote the activities that we're suffering from in our communities."

Evans began working on the ban after being contacted by Early Walker, who founded Operation Safe Pump to help prevent carjackings at shopping centres and petrol stations.

Walker said: "I feel like this game has become a huge issue in this spectrum.

"When you compare the two, you see harsh similarities as it relates to these carjackings."

The sale of games like Grand Theft Auto has been a contentious issue for as long as the games have been around.

On the one hand, some feel they can promote harmful and criminal behaviour, particularly among young and impressionable gamers.

On the other hand, others feel that it is just one of many occasions when we must distinguish fiction from reality, and that to ban such games would be to unfairly punish law-abiding gamers, with insufficient evidence to justify doing so.

LADbible has contacted Rockstar Games for comment.

Topics: US News, crime, Grand Theft Auto

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey