As Connecticut residents continue to try to come to grips with the horrific school shootings in Newtown, one nearby city is calling on citizens to round up and destroy their violent video games.
On Jan. 12, citizens of Southington, located about 30 miles to the northeast of Newtown, will have the opportunity to visit their city's drive-in theater and deposit violent games in a trash bin in return for a $25 gift certificate to a family-friendly local attraction.
Those games will be snapped into pieces and likely later incinerated, town officials told Polygon.
The Violent Video Games Return Program was organized by a group called the SouthingtonSOS, which includes members of the town’s Chamber of Commerce, board of education, fire department and clergy, among others. While the idea of games being collected and destroyed might raise memories of book burnings among some people, the group is quick to point out that the return program is not meant to be a construed as a statement blaming games for the school shooting.