Lawmakers in the South American nation of Venezuela are debating legislation proposed to ban the sales of violent video games and toys in that country. The measure was well-received in the National Assembly during a first hearing this week; if the same thing happens a second time, the bill would go to President Hugo Chavez for his signature.

The measure is sought to help curtail rising violence in that country, which supposedly has suffered 100,000 deaths from violent crime since Chavez took power a decade ago. Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, has become synonymous with danger in Latin America; Reuters News Service says people there have been murdered for as little as a mobile phone or a pair of shoes.

Exactly what constitutes a “violent” video game for Venezuela’s purposes isn’t clear. Nor is it clear how the games’ influence factors into that country’s litany of problems.

However, Venezuela’s not unique in thinking these kinds of games trigger social unrest. German lawmakers have tried clamping down on the manufacture and distribution of games containing violence and violent behavior. In America this year, a couple of state-level measures tried to restrict access to such games.

We here at Game Guy HQ presume the blood-drenched game plots involving lots of weaponry, immoral gangsters, angry aliens and zombies are the obvious targets. But what about titles such as “Wii Sports Resort”? The popular family-fun title includes a sword-fighting challenge in which players must hack through wave after wave of blade-wielding opponents without taking too many hits. (The avatars wear protective padding and nobody bleeds, but still … )

Or how about everyone’s favorite, “Madden NFL,” the gridiron great that includes gang tackling this year? In “LittleBigPlanet,” those cute little Sackboys get smacked around quite a bit.

Before anyone attempts to exert pressure on developers and distributors to curb in-game violence, we need to know what kind of violence we’re talking about, then show with certainty where and how the violence is causing harm. Yet nobody is willing to do that; justifiable censorship costs too much money, causes too many arguments and creates too many headaches. So, people resort to censorship for emotional reasons, not rational ones.

If video game violence really does rend our social fabric, then consider this: The comedian Dick Cavett once said, “There is so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy on the streets?”