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Spain's Taxi Drivers Want Grand Theft Auto Banned

Zeta | August 10, 2008 | News | Playstation 2 Playstation 3 
After a teenager from Thailand was arrested because of murdering a taxi driver, police questioned why he did it. He said he was inspired by the Grand Theft Auto series (police assume from Grand Theft Auto IV specifically). The game was then pulled from shelves in Thailand. Now the Secretary General of the Catalan Taxi Federation in Spain, is asking for a ban of the Grand Theft Auto games, along with the cabbies in Spain.
According to a report from newspaper La Vanguardia, by way of GamePolitics and Google's Spanish to English translator, Spain's cabbies are calling for a ban on Grand Theft Auto — Grand Theft Auto IV, we presume. After a Thai teenager was arrested on suspicion of murdering a taxi driver, claiming to have been inspired by GTA, the game was pulled from shelves in Thailand.

Now, Josep Maria Goñi, secretary general of the Catalan Taxi Federation, is asking the Spanish government to do the same, citing the Thai murder case.

We're going to make an ass out of ourselves and assume that Mr. Goñi knows as much as the Grand Theft Auto series as just about everyone else in his position and hope that cabbie murder hysteria blows over before it gives the series a bad rap. We can't have our games being scapegoated for society's ills, now. What a horrible precedent that would set.

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  • 0 thumbs!
    lord of vice city | August 10, 2008
  • 0 thumbs!
    chautemoc | August 10, 2008
    If games like, say, Pokemon were the only games available, I'm willing to bet we'd have a lot more violence..
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    reaver11 | August 10, 2008
    If I ever get arrested for boosting cars or killing someone, I'm gonna blame Grand Theft Auto because then I know I'll get away with it...

    C'mon. Gimme a break. Everyone blames these games for everything nowadays. How come no one thinks to blame Taxi Driver, hmm? That seems a little closer to home than GTA...
  • 0 thumbs!
    Zeta | August 11, 2008
    I hate how people keep saying video games are evil, they are just an excuse for these kinds of people
  • 0 thumbs!
    TurMoiL911 | August 11, 2008
    quote
    After a Thai teenager was arrested on suspicion of murdering a taxi driver, claiming to have been inspired by GTA
    Way to take responsibility for your *bleep*ing actions.

    GTA didn't kill that taxi driver, you did. Stop blaming a video game for your dumbass mistakes. Anybody who doesn't have the balls to suffer the consequences for their actions should be shot.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Armed Rebel | August 13, 2008
    Maybe they're just tired of having people asking them to skip to the destination. :@

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