Sunday Sales and DUI
Jan 16th 2007David ShaferCommerce & Public Safety
In his Political Insider column today, Jim Galloway of The Atlanta Journal Constitution wrote about the experience of New Mexico after passing a local option Sunday sales bill in 1995. Alcohol related crashes rose by 29% and alcohol related fatalities increased by a staggering 42%. According to researchers who studied the statistics:
“For the first time, we have real data on whether blue laws actually protect public health,” said study co-author Dr. Garnett McMillan of the Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Our research shows that the Sunday ban saved lives and prevented hundreds of injuries and fatalities from alcohol-related crashes.”
Supporters of Sunday sales are undeterred by the increase in alcohol related crashes and fatalities. Senate Bill 26 would enact a system of local option Sunday sales similar to the one implemented in New Mexico. Blogger Bill Simon, writing today at Peach Pundit, had this say:
If repealing such laws causes more morons to drink and slam their car into a telephone pole while driving on Sunday, I call it weeding out the gene pool.
Of course, drunk drivers hit more than just telephone poles and hurt more than just themselves. Should the danger of increased drunk driving crashes and fatalities give us pause? Let me know what you think.
[UPDATE] In a radio interview today, Governor Sonny Perdue came out in opposition to the Sunday sales bill, saying he would likely veto the measure if it was passed by the General Assembly. His reasoning: “Think of it this way…It really helps you plan ahead for the rest of your life — buying on Saturday, rather than Sunday. Time management.”
25 Comments »
25 Comments
January 16th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
DUI deaths are tragic and our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones, but obsessing over these accidents obscures the bigger picture. More days of selling alcohol means more alcohol sales. That means more retail profits and more tax revenue. Convenience stores provide jobs and valuable services to the communities they serve.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Senator, the last thing we need is more alcohol sold at gas station convenience stores. New Mexico’s experience with Sunday sales is just another of the many reasons that you should reject this senseless proposal.
January 16th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
I don’t have stats but conventional wisdom suggests that drunk drivers kill others and not just themselves. So Bill Simon’s idea that more drunk driving accidents properly weeds the gene pool would be erroneous.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Erroneous is an understatement. Outrageous describes it better.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Well if eliminating 1 day of alcohol sales saves lives, then why not eliminate alcohol all together? Then, we can eliminate all traffic fatalities by reducing the speed limit to 25 on interstates. How about limiting gun sales too!
The last thing we need is the government to create laws to protect us from ourselves. Are there any other responsibilities you think I can’t handle? Why on earth is it ILLEGAL for me to buy six pack of beer to enjoy during the playoff game this weekend?
If you feel you must limit the free economy for my personal protection by banning alcohol sales for 24 hours during the week, then ban it from midnight to 4am six days a week instead of all day Sunday. It would probably have a bigger safety impact than Sunday sales and would interfere less with my grocery shopping.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Firearms are constitutionally protected. Alcohol is not. In fact, as I have pointed out before, the Twenty First Amendment specifically authorizes the states to regulate alcohol. The same cannot be said of firearms.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Outrageous, huh? Follow-up your reading back to this link:
http://www.peachpundit.com/2007/01/15/more-thoughts-on-sunday-sales/#comment-45221
January 17th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
By the way, David, I like this “enter a code before you post” requirement. Who set this up for you?
January 17th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Two blogging experts, Erick Erickson (www.erickerickson.org) and Chris Farris (www.vitalpowers.com), were my technical advisors, and I most certainly should have acknowledged their help before now. Erick suggested the “enter the code” feature as a way of eliminating automated spam messages.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Likewise, kudos on the anti-spam measures.
To Bill, I actually agree that the ban should be lifted. While the government has the authority to regulate alcohol sales, I don’t think this particular regulation is proper, and it certianly doesn’t encourage personal responsibility. I do think, however, than it is wrong to assert that any subsequent alcohol-related traffic fatalities would kill the appropriate people.
The answer to the problem of more fatalities is to create incentives not to drink and drive, such as VERY stiff criminal and civil penalties, rather than simply banning the sale of alcohol on a given day.
January 18th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Well Golly-Gee, I’m so glad the governor is helping me plan ahead for the rest of my life. Thats just the kind of parenting I need from Government.
So much for smaller government.
January 18th, 2007 at 10:47 am
This is a link to the anti-spam stuff:
http://www.chrisfarris.com/geeklog/2007/01/07/wordpress-captcha/
January 18th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Thank you for the link, Chris!
January 18th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I agree with the Governor about this being a personal responsibility, time management issue for the user. There are plenty of buying opportunties for responsible users. We do not need to liberalize our alcohol laws. Learn to plan ahead.
January 18th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Georgians don’t need the government making personal decisions for them.
Lets punish behavior that affects others. If a person drinks and decides to drive their car somewhere, punish the drunken driving. If a person drinks and becomes violent, punish the violence.
Lets not punish people for making personal decisions. A person that drinks too much is an idiot, but is certainly not affecting me.
January 18th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Another point I forgot to mention:
Isn’t alcohol sales at restaurants and bars legal on Sundays already?
Wouldn’t it be safer if we allowed people to drive sober to a store so they could bring their alcohol home to drink?
January 18th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
State law currently allows alcohol to be served by the drink at restaurants, but not bars, during certain hours on Sunday. Local governments are required to hold a referendum before authorizing alcohol by the drink.
The pending bill would allow package sales on Sunday, but only of beer and wine, not liquor. The pending bill would also require a referendum.
I appreciate the many constructive comments on this issue.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:09 am
Support of this bill should be obvious, at least from the perspective of its merits over the political calculations. I’m with Milton Friedman in believing that government power is better in the hands of the states than the feds, and better still in the hands of localities than in states.
It’s not as if this bill magically “flips the switch” and turns on Sunday sales statewide… it only allows that option if county governments actively choose to make use of it. In reality, that would probably translate into Fulton and DeKalb allowing their residents to be grown adults, while the rest of the state maintains the status quo for another generation or so.
I do not get a sense that the momentum has reached critical mass at this point in time, but I’m sure we’ll be over the hump before long. A few years ago I took it for granted that Sonny Perdue would pay a political price for flip-flopping and burning the flaggers that first put him in office. The fact that the rebel flag issue went from red-hot to ancient-history in just a few years’ time suggests to me that the crusty old guard is full of hot air and losing oxygen fast. Another 10-15 years from now and current policy will seem BIZARRE when we look back on it.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:46 am
Like one of my favorite presidents said, “[G]overnment’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” Ronald Reagan. As for Gov. Sonny Purdue, Chris Farris got it right, “So much for smaller government.” Now really our only hope for Smaller Government is Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Sunday sales or no Sunday sales, alcohol is still a regulated beverage. Opening up the liquor stores to sell it another day of the week is not “smaller government.” An additional day of alcohol sales will mean more government expense for law enforcement (underage drinking, DUI, etc.).
I agree with our conservative Republican governor, Sonny Perdue. Give it a rest one day a week.
January 21st, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Government’s right to regulate alchohol should be for the protection of the consumer from hazardous and fraudulent manufacturers. It has that right in much the same way it regulates the drug industry. But we don’t see Rx drug sales regulated by day-of-week do we? No matter how the bill detractors try to frame it, the Sunday ban remains a facade of safety fronting morality legislation. I don’t claim to know the exact history of such laws but the fact that the ban is on Sunday points to a Christain moral origin and nothing based on sound thoughtful public safety policy.
Senator Shafer, I urge you to vote in favor of the repeal of the ban. Such a vote is in the best interests of the citizens of your district and the state. It is a vote for freedom and a rejection of misguided policy that inconveniences your constituiency and places a drag on Georgia’s economic growth.
January 21st, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Senator, I urge you place the safety of your constituents ahead of the profits of the gas station convenience store industry. No one disputes the statistics from New Mexico showing that hundreds will die from Sunday sales. Please reject this senseless proposal.
January 21st, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Sorry, but like it or not, government regulation of alcohol goes far beyond “fraudulent” or “hazardous” manufacturing. Alcohol cannot be sold to children or even to adults under the age of 21. Alcohol cannot sold through the mail or from drive through windows. Alcohol cannot be carried in open containers inside a moving automobile.
Alcohol is a regulated beverage, Sunday sales or no Sunday sales, and pretending otherwise does not make it so. More days of alcohol sales means more government enforcement expense, not to mention the cost in human lives and property damage from the DUIs that will follow.
The original purpose of the Sunday sales ban may have been morality, but it serves a public safety objective as well. Our conservative Republican governor has this one right. Give it a rest one day a week.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Should gun sales be banned on Sunday also? What about eating fatty fast foods on Sunday? Get real.
If one really thinks not selling alcohol for one day helps. Change that day to Monday.
January 24th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Drop the safety argument; it doesn’t hold any water. You don’t practice safety precautions 1/7th of the time. You either have a safety policy that is consistently in effect or you don’t.
Citizens should be able to buy alchohol through the mail (they can in most of the states in the US). Citizens should be able to buy alchohol through a drive-thru provided they don’t drink it in the vehicle. Many items cannot be sold to children but yet we don’t ban sales to everone else on Sunday. There is no consistent message in this law other than “It’s Sunday. You ought to not to be dirinkin’ on Sunday. Give it a rest one day a week.”
If you want to present a common sense safety policy then I’m willing to listen. But laws based on this illogic have no merit and offer only inconvenience.
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