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Lawmaker Compares Mixed Martial Arts to Child Porn, Wants Sport Outlawed in South Dakota

America, meet Republican South Dakota Representative Steve Hickey.

Now in his second term in the South Dakota State Legislature representing the 9th District, Hickey was previously a member of the state’s House of Representatives. Hickey also has some very interesting views on mixed martial arts, and a very interesting analogy to express those views.

“Decent and civil societies have to draw the line somewhere … with smoking we draw the line after tobacco and before pot; with ‘adult entertainment’ we draw the line at child porn,” Hickey recently wrote on his blog. “Where do we draw the line with violent entertainment? I suggest we draw the line at cage fighting.”

“MMA Cage Fighting is the child porn of sports.”

With these words Hickey is proposing that South Dakota effectively ban the sport in the state. As an alternative, he cites examples like boxing and football, which contain violent content but are regulated by governing bodies to rein in some of that violence.

Most of Hickey’s argument is standard fare with the conservative censorship crowd. He uses pornography as an analogy with violence, arguing that, like porn, people become desensitized to violence over time. And, of course, MMA is a very public form of violence.

Hickey is largely motivated by Senate Bill 84, which would regulate the sport in the state while simultaneously opening of avenues to bring more cage matches to South Dakota. On this point, Hickey compares the sport to meth labs, rhetorically asking if, because meth is popular, meth labs should be legalized and regulated by the state.

It remains to be seen if Hickey’s 1,600-word opus will have any bearing on the fate of the bill. But one thing’s for sure: The lawmaker just earned himself more attention that he’s ever had before.

Photo via Twitter/@SabiasQueMMA

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