The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Friday struck down a California law that restricted the sale of violent video games to minors, asserting that the state does not have the right to control minors' thoughts.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 2005 law violates minors' rights under the Constitution's First and 14th amendments. The three-judge panel's unanimous ruling upholds an earlier ruling in U.S. District Court. The law's author, state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said he wanted Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Callahan also said the state of California failed to prove "that violent video games cause psychological harm to minors and that young people could be protected only by being banned from buying those games." The law blocked by a federal judge in 2005 covers video games wherein a player kills, maims, dismembers, or sexually assaults "an image of a human being." It also requires violent video games package to have a two-inch-by-two-inch "18" label. Sale of such games to minors will cost retailers a $1,000 fine.

"We need to help empower parents with the ultimate decision over whether or not their children play in a world of violence and murder," Yee, a child psychologist, said in a statement.

A lower court had barred the law from taking effect in 2006, and later invalidated it. The state appealed that case, titled Video Software Dealers Association v. Arnold Schwarzenegger, last October.

Moreover the Encino-based Video Software Dealers Association, now known as the Entertainment Merchants Association following a merger, and the Washington, D.C.-based Entertainment Software Association argued that California's restrictions could open the door for states to limit minors' access to other material under the guise of protecting children.