    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [June 1, 1999]
    [Pages 862-864]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing a Study on Youth Violence and Media Marketing
    June 1, 1999

        Give him another hand. He was great. Bravo!
    [Applause] Thank you.
        When I was listening to Arthur speak, I
    didn't know whether to offer him a job as a White House speechwriter--
    [laughter]--or just wait for the opportunity to vote for him someday.
    Let me say, thank you very much. [Applause] Thank you.
        And we thank your mother for bringing you
    here, and congratulations. And Representative Mary Lou
    Dickerson, thank you, and Pam
    Eakes, founder of Mothers Against Violence in
    America, thank you.
        I thank the Attorney General and Chairman
    Pitofsky for their remarks and their
    commitment. I thank Mayor Corradini, Mayor
    Kaine, County Executive Curry, and County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger for the interest that our local government
    leaders have. I thank Representative Sheila Jackson Lee for her passionate commitment to this issue. And all
    of you, welcome to the White House.
        And most of all, I want to say again how much I appreciate Arthur
    Sawe for coming here and for sharing a child's
    perspective. We have other children in this audience today, and we are
    really here about them and their future.
        As Hillary said, the tragedy at Littleton had a profound effect on
    America. It certainly had a profound effect on us and on our family,
    particularly after we had the chance to go to Colorado and visit with
    the families of the children who were killed and many of the young
    children who are still grievously wounded and the kids at the school
    with them, who are hurting still, and the teachers.
        I do think that what Hillary said is right: We sense a
    determination, not only in that community but throughout our country,
    not just to grieve about this but to do something about it. The national
    grassroots campaign against violence against children is rooted in our
    faith that we can do better.
        We know we can prevent more youth violence if we work together,
    across all the lines that divide us. We know we can do it if we're all
    willing to assume responsibility and stop trying to assign blame. Of
    course, the responsibility begins at home. It must be reinforced and
    supported at schools and houses of worship, in the community as a whole.
    Those of us in public service must also do our part. There is broad and
    growing consensus for us to do more.
        Let me say I am also very grateful that the gun manufacturers came
    here last month and voiced their support for commonsense restrictions to
    make it more difficult for guns to get into the hands of children and
    criminals. I'm encouraged that the Senate acted to close the deadly gun
    show loophole, to require safety locks to be sold with every handgun, to
    ban the importation of large-capacity ammunition clips, and ban violent
    juveniles from owning guns as adults. I hope the House of
    Representatives will pass these commonsense measures as soon as they
    return from the Memorial Day recess. We have a lot to do this year, but
    this should be put at the top of the agenda and not put on hold.
        As you have already heard, members of the entertainment industry
    must also do their part. They and the rest of us cannot kid ourselves.
    Our children are being fed a dependable daily dose of violence, and it
    sells. Now, 30 years of studies have shown that this desensitizes our
    children to violence and to the consequences of it.
        We now know that by the time the typical American child reaches the
    age of 18, he or she has seen 200,000 dramatized acts of violence

    [[Page 863]]

    and 40,000 dramatized murders. Kids become attracted to it and more numb
    to its consequences. As their exposure to violence grows, so, in some
    deeply troubling cases of particularly vulnerable children, does the
    taste for it. We should not be surprised that half the video games a
    typical seventh grader plays are violent.
        Anyone who doubts the impact of the cultural assault can look at
    what now, over 30 years, amounts to somewhere over 300 studies, all of
    whom show that there is a link between sustained exposure, hour after
    hour, day after day, week after week, year after year, to violent
    entertainment and violent behavior.
        What the studies say, quite simply, is that the boundary between
    fantasy and reality violence, which is a clear line for most adults, can
    become very blurred for vulnerable children. Kids steeped in the culture
    of violence do become desensitized to it and more capable of committing
    it themselves.
        That is why I have strongly urged people in the entertainment
    industry to consider the consequences of what they create and how they
    advertise it. One can value the first amendment right to free speech and
    at the same time care for and act with restraint. Our administration has
    worked to give parents more tools to protect their kids, to block
    violent programming from entering their living room with the V-chip and
    the rating system. We've made progress on parental screening for
    Internet and ratings for Internet game sites.
        Still, when violent entertainment made for adults is marketed to
    children, it undermines the rating system designed to protect them. And
    if you look at some of these ads, it's hard to argue with a straight
    face that the games were made for adults in the first place, like the
    one Arthur mentioned.
        Advertisements have a particular role here. They have the power to
    egg children on and lure them in. Every parent knows what response a
    commercial for sugar cereal or the latest ``Star Wars'' toy will get
    from their children. People advertise because it works. They want that
    product, and one way or the other, they're determined to get it. So we
    ought to think twice about the impact of ads for so-called first-person
    shooter video games, like the recent ad for a game that invites players
    to, and I quote, ``Get in touch with your gun-toting, cold-blooded
    murdering side.''
        I was given--today Arthur brought me the
    magazine with the ad that he mentioned, and he was kind enough to mark
    it for me. There really is a gun here. It says, ``More fun than shooting
    your neighbor's cat.'' I was given another ad that says, ``What kind of
    psycho drives a school bus into a war zone?'' And here's a school bus,
    heavily armed. This came out right after the incident in Springfield,
    Oregon.
        Here's an ad that turns the argument I just made on its head:
    ``Psychiatrists say it's important to feel something when you kill.''
    And then it goes on to say, ``You ought to get this technology because
    it bumps, and you feel it.'' It says, ``Every sensation, every
    vibration, every mutilation. Nine programmable weapons buttons.
    Customizable feedback software. Push the stick that pushes back, and
    feel your pain.'' And here's one that's the most unbelievable of all. It
    says, ``Kill your friends guilt-free.''
        Now, obviously, Arthur has the inner
    strength and the good upbringing to reject that kind of violent appeal.
    Most of our children do, but not all of our children do. We cannot be
    surprised when this kind of thing has an impact on our most vulnerable
    children. Is it 100 percent to blame? No. It's easier to get guns in
    this society. Parents on average spend 22 hours a week less with their
    children than they did 30 years ago because of the demands of work and
    commuting, the busyness of daily life. But when you put it all together,
    there are bound to be explosive negative consequences.
        That's why today I am asking the Department of Justice and the
    Federal Trade Commission to study the extent to which the video game,
    music, and movie markets do actually market violence to children, and
    whether those industries are abiding by their own voluntary systems of
    regulations.
        To any company that sells violent products, I say, children are more
    than consumers. I understand nobody made anybody buy any of this stuff.
    But every day, a responsible society declines to do some things for
    short-term gain that it can do. And that is what we have to think about.
    These children are our future, our most precious resource. Raising them
    is any society's most important job. Don't make young people want what
    your own rating systems say they shouldn't have.
        I might say again, as has already been acknowledged, many, many
    people in the entertainment industry have worked with us on this,

    [[Page 864]]

    on the ratings system, on the V-chip, on the screening technology for
    the Internet. I noticed one network executive, a few days ago, actually
    canceled a program because its violent content was inappropriate, and I
    applaud that. But I also read with concern the news that some of the new
    programming coming up for this fall on some networks will be even more
    violent than last year's. The time has come to show some restraint, even
    if it has a short-term impact on the bottom line.
        I also want to challenge the owners of movie theaters and video
    stores, distributors, anyone at any point of sale: Enforce the rating
    systems on the products that you sell. Check the ID's. Draw the line. If
    underage children are buying violent video games or getting into R-rated
    movies, the rating system should be enforced to put a stop to it. And
    if, as many of us suspect, there is still too much gratuitous violence
    in PG-13-rated movies, the rating systems themselves should be
    reevaluated.
        I want to thank Senators Brownback,
    Lieberman, Hatch, and Kohl for the bipartisan work
    they have done on this issue. Again, I want to commend State
    Representative Mary Lou Dickerson from
    Washington, who read about young Arthur, helped
    to create a task force on video game violence; and thanks to her work
    with Pam and the Mothers Against Violence in
    America and the Washington Retailers' Association, who are all
    represented here today, video game retailers in Washington State now
    voluntarily sign a pledge to parents, committing themselves to check
    ID's and block sales of violent games to minors. That's something that
    ought to happen in every State in the United States of America.
        Again I say, we can do something about this. It will take a
    grassroots campaign. It will take everybody doing his or her part. This
    is a problem we face together, a problem America can solve together.
    There is no more urgent task for our future.
        You were all looking at this young man
    speaking today, thinking, what a wonderful thing that a person that
    young could speak so clearly, so confidently, about things that are so
    right. You look around at the other young people here today who are
    involved in this effort in some way or another, and you thank God that
    we have this legacy of children.
        A lot of those kids that haven't made it through all these school
    violence incidents were just as good, just as fine, had just as much to
    give the world. We've got to quit fooling around with this. We've got a
    chance. Our hearts are open. Our ears are open. Our heads are thinking.
        I know this stuff sells. But that doesn't make it right.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:46 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Arthur Sawe, who introduced the
    President, and his mother, Caroline; Mayor Deedee Corradini of Salt Lake
    City, UT, president, U.S. Conference of Mayors; Mayor Timothy Kaine of
    Richmond, VA; and Maryland county executives Wayne Curry, Prince Georges
    County, and C.A. (Dutch) Ruppersberger, Baltimore County. The transcript
    released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks
    of the First Lady.