Think about the last time you were in Best Buy. Or Circuit City. Or Wal-Mart. Or any other retailer that sells video games.

If a New York State Assembly bill becomes law, an employee of these stores could be convicted of a felony (class E) should he or she sell a game containing “indecent images” or “depraved violence” to an underage consumer.

Bill A08696 - passed 131-10 on Thursday, May 30 - defines depraved violence as rape, dismemberment, physical torture, mutilation or evisceration of a human. Indecent images consist of anything containing nudity, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse.

In other words, the teenage and young adult employees who often sit behind the register at big electronics retailers would be subject to a one-year minimum jail sentence should they let a 16-year-old walk out of the store with a copy of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” or “God of War II.”

The men and women working the counter at a convenience store face misdemeanor charges for selling tobacco or alcohol to minors. The direct effects of those indiscretions could include nicotine addiction or drunken driving. No direct effect of violent video game play exists that comes close to the severity of those consequences.

Granted, these games are not harmless. Psychological studies have shown desensitizing effects of the violence they depict. But such effects are not influential enough to warrant a worse penalty for selling violent games to minors than alcohol or tobacco.

Games like “Resident Evil 4” or “Hitman: Blood Money” will not compel a teenage player to pummel the other kids in the school yard. Such games may generate aggressive thoughts and feelings in the player that add to those spawned by their social environment and personality. It is the combination of these factors that can cause aggressive actions. The effect of violent games is equivalent to adding a few weights to an already sinking ship, while the steadier vessels remain safe.

Young players should indeed be safeguarded from games that intensify aggressive thoughts and feelings or steepen an inclination toward aggressive behavior. And this law will undoubtedly scare many a minimum wage worker straight out of selling violent or sexual games to minors. But what happens when it doesn't work?

There is an alarmingly high likelihood of this law affecting more young store cashiers who make a careless mistake than employees who knowingly sell an indecent or depraved game to a minor. What happens to the cashier who hastily skips looking at a customer's driver's license or is even duped by a fake one? How many high school and college-age employees - otherwise on the straight and narrow - could see numerous doors of opportunity slam in their faces when a felony stains their record?

And how will this law be enforced? Say a mother discovers her 14-year-old playing “Manhunt 2.” After the interrogation, she finds that he purchased the game at the local Target. Knowing that an employee could face one to four years of incarceration, would that mother actually report the sale to store management or the police? Would she really think her son playing a violent game demands that dire a penalty?

Such questions surround the intended effect of this bill. But for now, questions surround the bill itself.

It already faces competition from the New York State Senate, whose S05888 bill suggests a more conspicuous rating system to be placed on game covers rather than jail time for store employees. The Legislature must find a compromise between the two bills by the end of the current session on Thursday, June 21.

Should the Assembly bill survive and become state law, it will likely face a lawsuit from the Entertainment Software Association, whose litigation has already struck down similar laws in Illinois, Louisiana and Michigan on the grounds that games enjoy First Amendment protection. The task of covering the ESA's legal fees was then left to state taxpayers.

But in the unlikely event that the assembly's law remains standing, several electronics store employees can look forward to a nerve-racking time behind the register.

Staff writer David Wilcox writes about video games for The Citizen. He can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net