So, for the past week or so I've had vivid reminders that fireworks are illegal in MA... Folks in the neighborhood have been lighting off what I can only assume to be space cannons of death at about 12:30 - 1:00 AM, and it's got me to thinking about prohibition and how it just plain doesn't work. You see, fireworks are illegal in MA, but not in nearby NH - and despite them being illegal in MA, folks regularly drive over the border, stock up, and then drive home and use said fireworks in a manner counter to state law.
Shocking, I know.
So, why do so many feel emboldened to break the law? Well, for starters, it's just plain bad law. There's about a thousand things more dangerous for sale at any home improvement store; probably hundreds of which are explosive in their own right. Hell, you can go to any gas station, pump a gallon of gas, and grab a lighter for under $5 total - no permit needed, no license, nothing. Banning fireworks out of some inherent need to keep us safe from ourselves is bound to fail from the onset - we're incredibly capable of finding new and unique ways to injure ourselves.
And the local PD know this, and choose to only very selectively enforce the law. This is both good and bad. It shows some common sense, in that the kid who lights off a sparkler on the Fourth of July isn't going to wind up with a felony conviction for possession of illegal explosives. But at the same time, stupid laws that are not enforced should be repealed - the more dumb laws there are on the books that we don't enforce, the more we "need" more laws to save us from ourselves it seems.
Marko makes note of one such idiocy in Meninostan. In response to a drive-by shooting that resulted in a four year old being shot in the back, the city of Boston in its infinite wisdom chose to ban... Scooters. Yep. The answer to the scourge of inner city youths using illegally obtained firearms without the requisite state permission slip and firing said firearms indiscriminately in city parks is to ban a mode of transportation. We can only be thankful that they didn't run from the park, because Mumbles would ban Nikes...
Fascism in America, it seems, starts with an inherent need to protect us from ourselves...
That is all.
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5 comments:
Yet another example proving that The People know the difference between a malum prohibitum and a malum in se, even if they don't know what the words mean, exactly.
I do not understand laws against using fireworks, unless you are under a burn ban (like most of Texas is currently). Like you said, you can't really stop people from setting them off. I would just like to see people use their brains and realize that when you are in the middle of a drought, it is not a good idea to set off fireworks.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." Ayn Rand
Reminds me of this editorial a couple weeks ago.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/2011_0621fireworks_ban_ignites_short_fuse/srvc=home&position=2
"If you’re too dumb to handle a bottle rocket, then you’re too dumb to handle a ballot.
And brother, does state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan think you’re dumb.
Coan opposes a bill by Rep. Rich Bastien (R-Gardner) that would let Bay Staters do what people in 46 other states take for granted: Buy fireworks."
There's also that the more slective enforcement of the law becomes the more power cops have and the more ability they have to abuse it.
Jay,
Actually, you're surrounded. RI and CT (I believe) actually treat their residents as citizens as opposed to subjects (in this regard). Hopefully MA will come around. Maybe you just need to remind the D's that you can tax them; that's what got them thru in RI.
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