We require seat belt use for automobiles, but our citizens are allowed to jump out of airplanes.
We require safety/proficiency training for legal use of automobiles, but we don't require any prior training for parenthood.
I think motorcycle helmets are a good safety feature. I think helmet use can save lives. The ER nurses who held me down and scrubbed the gravel out of my face think so too. I don't for a second think anyone has the right to MAKE me wear one. Do I wear one? Yes. Always? No. It is a choice I should be able to make for myself as an adult. At no point does my helmet usage adversely impact another living being. EVER. Why do people across the nation think the government needs to regulate it?
To my knowledge there's no law requiring condom use. Condom use quite frequently impacts more than one life.
If we are going to pass laws to keep people safe from EVERYTHING, wow that's a lot of laws we're going to need. Let's face it; if we legislate anything unsafe out of our lives we're going to be left with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and not much else.
I can see the reasoning behind training prior to using a firearm or a vehicle (or ANY potentially dangerous tool). I can see the reasoning behind a requirement for training. I can also see a reason to avoid making it a REQUIREMENT.
If you buy a saw and cut off your finger, that's all you. Call it incompetence or negligence or whatever you want; you did it to you. I don’t see any need for anti-saw legislation to keep you safe. I certainly don’t see a need for anti-saw legislation to keep ME safe in the event I might lose a finger someday down the road. Since they belong to me, and I’m an adult, I see it as MY responsibility to keep track of where I put MY fingers and MY saw. There’s no logical reason to pass a law just because we need to be careful.
When I bounced my face on the road, because I was too stupid to put on my helmet, my dad took me to the ER and then took me to the local cycle safety class. He had the instructor point to my face and point to the students’ helmets. Then he showed them the medical bill and told them where they could buy full face helmets. That’s education not legislation. And it works.
We cannot continue to pass legislation every time someone does something stupid or careless. Every time we do, we curb the rights of the citizens; the safe and conscientious as well as the stupid and careless. It is not government’s job to keep us safe from ourselves. This is the USA and we have the freedom to be as smart or stupid as we choose.
Instead of passing more unconstitutional laws we don’t need, let’s promote education.
