Well, gaming is the current boogieman, trying to pass a bill like this makes it look like he's trying to do something, while letting him stay away from the REAL issues which are so contreversial that even if he succeeds he's liable to nuke his own career prospects.
We are not going to see common sense here, any more than we did with attacks on things like comics, and rock music.
What's more violence is part of being human, and I think there is far too much negativity ascribed to it. Yes, we should control those impulses, but no we should not be trying to do away with violence all together, that's not healthy and will lead to more problems than anything since we (as a species) are where we are now BECAUSE of those instincts. Of course this is an entirely differant discussion, the point being that the underlying logic (violence is always bad) is in of itself a problem. I think video games are a decent way of channeling some of those impulses in a harmless fashion, but I'll also say that I think society itself need to change to allow for more physical outlets... (but again, this is a whole differant discussion, which I've gone into before).
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Now, one side note:
I do not think violent crime has actually been on a decline recently, though if it was, consider we've had a good portion of our most young and aggressive members of society stationed overseas for a long time now.
Given the stigma attached to having a high rate of violence in an area, and what it can do to the economy and propery values and such, I think there is a tendency right now to have violent crimes labeled something else for the purposes of the paperwork when it can be gotten away with.
Also according to some things I've read, disappearances are at an all time high. It could be connected to the paperwork being careful not to list violence if it's suspected, and it could also be that people are becoming a lot more savvy in the way they committ crimes. There is a countermeasure for everything, and understand that at a time when there are well researched books (and to a lesser extent TV shows) dealing with forensics and the techniques, people considering crimes today are more prepared to cover their tracks than ever before. Consider that to dispose of a body (the most difficult part) you can use something that includes industial caustic. Over the counter products like Draino include a degree of caustic, and are designed to unclog drains by dissolving organic material. This stuff will dissolve bones from a pork chop, or body hair inside of a drain. Put a dead body in a tub full of this stuff and leave it for a while and you can pretty much send your problems down the drain. At least that's how I was taught to do it, having never put this to use I can't speak from actual experience, but my sources/trainers were kind of reliable. I've mentioned this before. The point here is that even with today's changing standards it's hard to prove a violent death without a body, and I think more people know how to dispose of bodies than ever before. We're in an era where there are a lot of smarter criminals along with all the dumb ones that get made fun of.
If your interested, take a look at some of the 2012 "end of the world" stuff. The spike in the number of disapperances is mentioned in some of this stuff. Occasionally it's also attributed to what some people call "The White Effect" which is when people vanish into thin air. Things like the disapperance of the Roanoak colony, or various ghost towns and such where people were just gone and it looked like they stepped away during dinner or whatever. If you check out creepy "unexplained mysteries" sites you'll see plenty of that kind of thing, and "The White Effect" simply ties it all together (can't remember why it's called that). It's also attributed to the vanishing of individual people, but with individuals and small groups it tends not to be as widely promoted since it's less dramatic. Some people feel that the increase in disappearances is "the white effect" and one of the signs leading up to the end of the world. Personally (other messages aside) I don't think thta'ts the case, but the point is that their conclusions aside other people have noticed this as well.
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