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11/09 – THE DUMBEST EVER.


Photo by Nick Nunziata.

A Blue Law (per Answers.com):
n.

  1. A law designed to regulate commercial business on Sunday.
  2. One of a body of laws in colonial New England designed to enforce
    certain moral standards and particularly to prohibit specified forms of
    entertainment or recreation on Sundays.

Taken further (per Wikipedia):

A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping. Most have been repealed, have been declared unconstitutional, or are simply unenforced, although prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages, and occasionally almost all commerce, on Sundays are still enforced in many areas. Blue laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores. In some places blue laws may be enforced due to religious principles, but others are retained as a matter of tradition or out of convenience.

It is unconstitutional, as if there is such a thing in 2009. Everything is massaged to the whims of the folks in power, be it Patriot Acts one way or how a wealthy community finds a workaround the other. I’ve seen customers walk into restaurants here on a Sunday and discreetly walk out with bottles of booze they purchased on the sly from the manager, because sometimes you need to buy a bottle of wine on Sunday. I do. I also crave Chick Fil-A on Sundays almost every week.

To forbid alcohol sales because of morals is as lame as lame gets. Sunday is a day people need to be able to indulge themselves a little, whether to deal with the upcoming work week, enjoy the company of those around them, or to drown out the company of those around them. Plus, in this economy I’d imagine the lost sales that’d be restored to local liquor stores, grocery chains, and convenience stores would warrant the return to common sense.

Liquor is innocent. It’s the most dangerous, accessible, and abused substance there is but it’s innocent in and of itself. Just like a pistol, a cock, or a set of steak knives.

And frankly, in most cases it’s an individual abusing themselves. If they get in a car and drive over someone after getting hammered or if they deliver a Tiger Uppercut to their kid after a bottle of Jim Beam… well there are laws in place to ensure that they are given their deserved punishment for such. If they buy the shit on a Tuesday, they’re no less dangerous than if they got it on a Sunday. Frankly, I’ve been the most dangerous I’ve ever been in relation to alcohol not when I drink it but when I want to purchase it and my state’s tight-assed archaic law prohibits it.

Not everyone who goes to church is a saint and not everyone who drinks scotch is a devil.

Seems wise to give us the tools to live our lives and stay the fuck out of the way until we become too great to ignore or too dangerous to allow to roam the streets.