Jack Thompson had a while to think things through after being disbarred, and has come back with his most nefarious (or at least possible to accomplish) scheme yet. He's proposing a bill for the Utah legislature, the most likely to pass one of his bills into law whether or not it's constitutional, and the bill will focus on false advertising claims rather than right-out bans.
What he means by this is that retailers advertise or claim that they do not sell M-rated games to minors. As soon as they have proof that minors got the game from their store, they can be attacked on false advertising grounds.
The problem with that is, assuming it passes and then succeeds under judicial review should it come to that, retailers don't have to even say they won't sell the games to minors. If your choice, as a Target, Wal-Mart, or Gamestop, is to either:
1. Say you won't sell games to minors for a theoretical "family-friendly" boost in marketing, and actually make absolutely certain that no minors get their hands on an M-rated game,
2. or just dump the whole "protecting minors from filth" thing so you have no chance of legal trouble,
I think I'd go with option 2 there. It's a bit like the "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" deal. The retailers wanted to not mention Christmas to ensure that they didn't go to court with Johnny Suefurmunny, even though saying Christmas was more likely to appeal to the vast majority of regular consumers. Option #2 is safer for business, so even if this bill is successful, it may just make it easier for Utah kids to buy M-rated games.
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