If people taught their kids good and early about how the real world works none of this would be a problem. Children will be exposed to ugly stuff at an early age, no matter what. It´s one of the drawbacks of our wonderful information age. But as long as I can watch live footage of shootings on CNN at any time of the day I´m not even going to consider the argument.
(Not that I´m not against restrictions, some of the games I make shouldn´t be played by kids)

Books, films, games - every possible medium out there cannot be restricted so that it is only used by the intended target audience. But that´s something we´ll have to live with.
I wonder where people got the idea that everything in the world has to be safe, hazard free and kiddy approved, and that if it´s not there´s someone you can sue.

yea, but face it, in a world where you can sue a fast food chain becouse you didnt know a food item called a "double bacon half pounder" would make you fat theres not a lot of responsability expected of people

Don't let your kid get a rated M game! Just because the guy at the counter dosen't discourage you dosen't mean that parents should stop making objective decisions about it.