Panel OKs sex cartoon guidelines

      CARSON CITY -- Moments after watching a cartoon filled with graphic violence and sex, an Assembly panel approved a bill to outlaw the sale or distribution of such tapes to children.
      The Assembly Judiciary Committee opened its Thursday meeting by watching "Ninja Scroll," a unrated animated Japanese film that can be rented by anyone in some video shops.
      Legislators saw one character rip off the arms and then drink the blood of another character. Then he disrobes a female character and proceeds to rape her.
      Bill sponsor Assemblyman John Lee said he was too embarrassed to look at the faces of older female legislators who watched the cartoon.
      "This is such filth," said Lee, D-Las Vegas, the father of seven children.
      His Assembly Bill 336 would make it a misdemeanor for a tape shop to sell or rent pornographic cartoons to minors.
      Lee introduced the bill at the request of Las Vegas City Councilman Arnie Adamsen. One of Adamsen's constituents said she found 10 offensive cartoons in the possession of her 16-year-old daughter. The tapes were purchased for $24.95 each in Las Vegas.
      "Parents would have no idea what are on these tapes," Lee said.
      In Carson City, the tape Lee showed to legislators can be rented by anyone in the "Japan animation" section of a local video store. The section is near where Disney cartoon films are available.
      Lee's proposal's would not block the sale or renting of the suggestive cartoon tapes to adults. Stores would be required to place them in adults-only sections.
      Assemblyman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, suspects the tape manufacturers are deliberately targeting youth.
      "At first glance they look like a kid's film," he said. "I think video shop owners have a responsibility to understand what products are on their shelves."
      Nolan said his own children gravitate toward cartoon sections of video stores and the Ninja characters resemble the "speed racers" in a popular television cartoon series.
      Lee did point out, however, that the manufacturers state the tapes may contain scenes of sex and violence in small print on the back side of the tapes.
      Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, was the only member of the committee to oppose the bill.
      Anderson said he was concerned about censorship, although he considered the Ninja tape pornographic.
      "It's like the Supreme Court justice," Anderson said. "I can't describe what pornography is but I know it when I see it."