If you’re here, you probably agree there are a lot of stupid laws out there.
You may be a Democrat. Or a Republican. You may think the way things are headed, a Police State isn’t too far off. You may think the Nanny State is knocking at your door.
You’re probably right, either way.
There are a lot of stupid laws. More importantly, many have real consequences:
- Shreveport issued more than 40 citations for baggy pants in 2011.
- A Maryland motorcyclist’s house was searched, his computer equipment was seized, and he faces criminal charges after posting a YouTube video of an off-duty police officer drawing a weapon on him for a traffic violation.
- In Denver, a man recently went to jail for not having a dog license.
- The father of a kid who set up a lemonade stand in Bethesda, MD, was recently fined $500.
- The Arkansas mother of a boy who made her son walk a few miles to school for punishment is facing punishment herself: A year in jail for childhood cruelty.
- Two people in Nixa, Mo., are facing a $4 million fine for raising bunnies…because they lacked a particular permit.
- At least two tourists—with no criminal background and valid carry permits from out of the city—at one point faced three-plus years in prison after checking their weapons in with security guards in front of New York City buildings with “No Guns” signs.
- At least one Chicago school bans kids from bringing in homemade lunches, and one Hoke County, NC, school forced a kid to buy cafeteria chicken nuggets and milk after her homemade lunch did not meet federal health requirements.
- An Amish farm in Pennsylvania, where it’s illegal for farmers to sell fresh, non-pasteurized milk, was recently shut down by the USDA.
- A woman in Oak Park, MI, faces 90 days in jail for growing a vegetable garden in her own front yard—a violation of the city’s strict zoning restrictions.
I wish this was a partial list. There are hundreds of more examples.
The moral of this story? Think twice before packing your kids a school lunch that doesn’t meet federal standards in Hoke County. Or growing a vegetable garden in your front yard in Oak Park. Or setting up a lemonade stand for them pretty much anywhere.
Unless you’re teaching them the value of breaking the law.