Oh so many naive opinions in this. Its not about parenting, its not about paying attention to your child. Its about creating a law that prevents the sale of a video game that "shows images of humans being maimed, killed or sexually assaulted" to a minor.
go read the original documents "http://www.docstoc.com/docs/484895/Video-Software-Dealers-Association-et-al-v-Schwarzenegger-et-al---58/"
Lil' Johnny cant go to the store and purchase a bottle of Jack Daniels, or the lastest version of Girls_Gone_Wild. Why should he be able to walk down the street to wal-mart/target/game-stop/best buy and purchase a game that has been deemed inappropriate for children.
This is not a new concept for our society. There are plenty of regulations designed to keep children safe. Tobacco, Liquor, Pr0n, even a Driver's License.
This law does not prevent any company from making any video game. It is not an infringement on free speech. It is a regulation to prevent a store from selling overly violent video games to minors.
I am a gamer. I know how it feels with all these laws being tossed around. But I also think that this law is good. And the bad wrap its getting is simply a knee jerk reaction by the gaming community.
Lawyer: " we are gonna make a law that happens to involve video games"
Gamer: "OMG WTF HELLZ TO THE NO!!"