Merchants cheer Sunday booze sales as blue laws fall
Colorado wine and beer retailers will welcome customers for the first time this Sunday as their state becomes the latest to strike down Prohibition Era bans. What do you think of blue laws?
From Cindy, Miami Florida I dont think the blue law should be passed, like someone said earlier. its a discrimination. a religious discrimination. and i dont think its fair for someone to make such a law and not considering the fact that people have their different religions and worship on different days. we all serve the same God, why not just let us keep serving him on a different day. it will cause confusion, and persacution will start. there will be riots, and problems started amongst each other. it will be another war. and eventually the end of the world would be near.
I am a seventh day aventist, how would you feel if someone took your freedom away to worship whenever you wanted to? people in the work force have any day they want to take off, why bother which day it is. many people dont have to work on sundays but some choose to because, why its their choice.
From Bill, Chapel Hill, NC Over and above permitting liquor/wine/beer sales on Sunday, the government should be 100% out of the retailing business. In some states, the government owns and operates the retail stores. Every $ spent to run such a system is unnecessary and diverts needed revenue to political patrons and bureaucracy. The state would collect exactly the same amount of revenue without having to pay rents or salaries to store personnel. Plus, customers would have a wider selection.
From Fred, Wichita, KS The real issue is religious discrimination, for or against. If you have a diverse workforce of Christian’s, Bahia, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc … you can provide everyone their day of religious choice off. At the same time you should not prohibit me from an activity on your weekly religious holiday of choice. I think an enterprising lawyer could turn this blue law around and prosecute states as encouraging religious discrimination. (For those that are curious I am with the religious majority in the states, but have many friends in the religious minority whom I great respect).
From db,la,ca ever run out of booze on a sunday
in a blue law state?
you should not have to drive to another state or country
i lived for years in texas
but mexico was 5 miles away
and they got a lot of booze money from texans.
keep that dough in the usa we need every dollar
From Sean SF, CA Fitzpatrick: Massachusetts repealed its Sunday sales prohibition statewide a few years back. Sunday sales are legal after 12 p.m. (with local option, I believe)
From Justin Columbus OH Time for another archaic law to go by the books . A man or woman is old enough to vote , old enough to serve and die for their country but not old enough to have a beer legally in public. This is the only country in the world with a legal drinking age of 21 . How repressed is that
From Steve, Parker Colorado When I was a child, growing up in NY, we had blue laws. You could go to the movies, bowling, buy a newspaper, go to a drugstore or eat dinner at a restaurant. You could not go shopping, as the malls were closed, grocery stores as well. As I was a child, I don't know whether liquor sales were legal or not. Yes, it probably wasn't convenient – however it was down time for most people in society – and that was good. It was also an era when President Eisenhower had a heart attack and VP Nixon took on his responsibilies. Today VP Cheney has heart problems and goes to work the next day …. good – well I don't think so. We need to take time out and smell the roses!
From Nate, Omaha, NE From Craig, Las Vegas NV
Blue Laws should be called “God laws” or “Let me force my religion on you laws”. Look at the origin of such laws and you will find they are rooted in some fruit cake religous belief. It is time that we past laws that are not rooted in superstitions and faith. I will drink to that on any Sunday.
Nail, head.
From JR, San Diego Repealing the Blue Law doesn't force any business to start opening on Sunday. If they don't want to do that, then don't.
From Dr. Dave, Lake Spivey, GA Some of the comments from store owners seem like they are "required" to
open on Sundays. Do they have to open or could they take the day off? I
cannot believe they would be "required" to be open!! That would be worse
than being "required" to be closed!!
Lake Spivey, GA
From David Bober Your article is not entirely true as there was no mention of Bergen
County, NJ and their blue laws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law
From j fitzpatrick I think Massachusetts still has this law — except for towns bordering new
hampshire…acknowledging that NH sunday sales hurts Mass. merchants…
From Joe Bojarski, Toronto Ontario I can see this comment getting a bunch of "patriots" in a huff despite the fact that they can't prove me wrong.
If America is a beacon of freedom in the world, why do Americans allow their government to tell them when and what they can and cannot do? It's pathetic hearing of legal businesses that aren't allowed to operate 1/7th of the time for no reason other than the fact that some government entity decided that it should be so.
From Craig, Las Vegas NV Blue Laws should be called "God laws" or "Let me force my religion on you laws". Look at the origin of such laws and you will find they are rooted in some fruit cake religous belief. It is time that we past laws that are not rooted in superstitions and faith. I will drink to that on any Sunday.
From sheila former denver colo. ya what he said! and yes it WILL increase the business revenue. i have forgot to buy my wine many of times on saturday and had to eat steak with soda. (yuk)
From Cheri, Columbia, SC I think it's great. I wish that they would get rid of all the blue laws here in SC, not just the liquor ones. It's more than ridiculous that when you have a store like Wal-Mart that is open 24hrs/day, you cannot go in on Sunday until after 1:30 pm to purchase most things (they have ropes up). These laws are for the dark-ages and need to be updated.
From Tom Allen, Newington CT I sympathize with small businesses, I really do, but this move to repeal these laws is just absurd. Plan ahead and buy your booze on another day, don't wait until the last minute like Americans do on EVERYTHING else. Like I said, I see where small business is coming from on this but repealing these acts send the message that the government is all for letting America get wasted on ever day of the week.
From VK, Chicago, Illinois Wow, lots of nonsensical comments.
Tim, you're saying the point of this law is to give alcohol store workers a break on Sunday. Get real. Government shouldn't legislate who works when. They already have laws on 40-hour work weeks, overtime, and such. And even if they should, maybe they should shut down all commerce on Sunday. After all, I bet you like to eat out or occasionally grocery shop on Sundays. I'm sure those people would love the day off.
Matthew: http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html According to this site, there were 13,470 fatalities in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver. That averages to slightly over 1000 per month. 4000+ soldiers have died in the Iraq war. Come back when you have arguments not based on lies.
Kevin: I'm not exactly sure what you're arguing, but if you're saying the government is supposed to prevent us from addicting substances, by extension, you're saying it's the governments duty to keep us healthy. By that rationale, fast food and a whole bunch of other accepted things in society should be illegal.
From Jason, Key West, Florida Blue laws are ridiculous Puritanical religious concepts dating back to the 17th century that detailed what was acceptable to do on Sundays. The Blue laws should've stayed in the 17th century along with a lot of other oppressive religious concepts. If you repsect and value freedom in the USA, it should be your choice whether to buy booze on Sunday or not. If your religion says no drinking, then stay out of the booze shop. If you're off on Sunday and want to dance around drunk in a Superman costume, then so be it. The notion that anyone can tell me what I can and can't do on my weekends off is repressive and ridiculous so Cheers! to Colorado and the rest of you holy rollers can stay the hell out of my martini glass.
From kevin horan, new port richey, florida yeah for the liquor lobbyists! yeah for the big breweries! yeah for more taxation for the state! why not mandate a shot or a beer a day. we sell addicting alcohol and addicting cigarettes with government approval and taxation but bust the poor slob that wants to smoke a joint. the government doesn't know how many tax dollars they are squandering by not legalizing and taxing pot. the government is helping us to become a nation of addicts….Lotto anyone?
From Matthew Portland Oregon IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!!. The only ones that gain are the lobbyists and their booze pushing clients. As a human being I have empathy for the hundreds of thousands of women and children who are beaten, raped, molested and murdered because of our tolerance and addiction to alcohol. Studies show that up to 90% of these crimes involve alcohol. Stupid politicians. They want to take away something guaranteed in the Bill of Rights(guns) but they want to provide more access to alcohol. Not to mention we lose more Americans to drunk driving IN A MONTH than we have to combat in the ENTIRE Iraq war. Why don't we hear about that on the news every night? Political agenda, money and the carelessness of most Americans. Stupid politicians talk about lost revenue. The CDC estimates even after alcohol taxes we have lost hundreds of billions of dollars because of alcohol due to accidents, medical care, lost productivity at work, days missed etc. If you,(like my best friend), have a problem giving up alcohol for a day, a week, a month, or a year you may have an addiction. America sure does.
From jack, Phoenix, AZ Blue laws are are for old folks. Anybody can buy a case of alcohol Saturday and enjoy on Sunday. It is a major inconvenience.
From jake In fact there are innumerable laws still on the books that amount to nothing less than state support for the ideas of a specific religion. We need to actively seek these out and eliminate them from our secular government. Freedom of religion requires that no religion be able to impose its ideas over others.
From KCK, Port Washington,NY It should be the retailer's choice whether they open on a Sunday. Good for Colorado.
From Tim McFadden, Hamburg,PA Sunday is the only guarenteed day off we in auto sales in PA get……plan ahead for your booze……or maybe you should have classes seven days a week!
From VK, Chicago, Illinois Blue laws are stupid. At best, they're inconvenient and make you buy alcohol on different days. At worst, they force you to not have alcohol for an event because you didn't prepare for it.
Not to mention no alcohol-sales on Sundays smacks of religious-motivation. I'm a student, so Sunday is one of my only two days off, making it a better day both to buy and consume (at an event, like a BBQ) alcohol. Why should it be the one day to be alcohol-sale free? Why not Monday when I'm in class and studying? Maybe then, I wouldn't think it such a big deal.
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There are good resources online if you want to learn about the history, politics, etc. of Sunday blue laws. For example Prof. David Laband has written an excellent book on this topic. This web site has more info:
http://www.sundaybluelaws.org
He definitely shows that whatever the reasons are for promoting blue laws none of them make sense!