Alcohol laws by state

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

I feel the same way about hand guns. When you look at all the people who are killed by hand guns every year, it makes no sense that people should be allowed to own them. Is there really any benefit to them besides the rush people get from knowing they're carrying something capable of lethal force. Is that worth the damage it causes to society? I say we make private ownership of hand guns illegal. Who's with me?

Not me - I like that rush I get knowing I'm carrying something capable of lethal force.

Actually, I don't need a hand-gun to get that rush. I get it every time I prepare to fart.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

I feel the same way about hand guns. When you look at all the people who are killed by hand guns every year, it makes no sense that people should be allowed to own them. Is there really any benefit to them besides the rush people get from knowing they're carrying something capable of lethal force. Is that worth the damage it causes to society? I say we make private ownership of hand guns illegal. Who's with me?

Well, I don't think LC was proposing a return to prohibition. But you both make a good point. Hence, I choose not to drink or to own a handgun. I think the world would be a much better place with less of both.

Just an aside, I've always thought those "Drink Responsibly" ads as very odd. Its like saying, "Here, drink this stuff that will impair your judgment, but do it responsibly."

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by livecoug

why is the cause of so much potential heartache, pain, disease and death celebrated in the adult world? How many drinkers are anti-drunk driving yet justify a few beers (or whatever) before they go out on a drive under the guise of "I'm not impaired, I feel fine". Is there really a benefit to alcohol besides a buzz and losing all inhibitions? Is that worth the potential damage to oneself and others? I'll never get it.. oh well.

I don't drink and never will, but I work around those who do and a significant part of my criminal practice is DUI defense. From that perspective there are two answers I have to the questions above.

The first one is that the benefitt is a social one. You and I understand getting together in a social setting with family and friends at a nice restaurant, or in our homes, maybe standing by the BBQ and talking. As humans we stuff out faces communally. We have memories, feelings, nostaligia attached to certain food, with certain people in certain places. We have not been socialized to drink, but many have. It is something they do in certain settings without thinkging abobut it the same way you and I understand that turkey is what's for dinner at thanksgiving. More than that, as we know, it lowers inhibitions and has sedative affects. Some people need both of those things for a number of reasons and don't see it is a moral evil.

But why is the above worth it to anyone in light of the extreme problems that some encounter with alcholism or that others create while driving drunk? I think this is the easy on to answer: %99.999 of people who drink never become alcoholics and %99.999 percent of the time when an enibriated person drives his car nothing bad happens. In otherwords, you might just as well ask me how I can ever eat a cheeseburger when heardisease is the number one killer in our country. I understand it intellectually, but that cheeseburger I just ate didn't give that to me five minutes later.

We focus so much on the ill consequences, in part, because we see it as additional justification for our own abstinence. Others who do it, however, know that the ill consequences almost never actually occur. Or at least not to them. I would certainly never argue that this makes it okay or worth it. Particularly (and I ironicly) I favor the toughest DUI laws possible. Just trying to provide insight into others.

[MikeWaters]

I assume you are exaggerating about your stated percentages. The costs of alcholol are higher than you state, in my opinion.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by UtahDan

But why is the above worth it to anyone in light of the extreme problems that some encounter with alcholism or that others create while driving drunk? I think this is the easy on to answer: %99.999 of people who drink never become alcoholics and %99.999 percent of the time when an enibriated person drives his car nothing bad happens.

You are understating the prevalence of alcoholism. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) out of NIH in Bethesda estimates that about 14 million Americans (almost 5 percent of the population) abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. The related costs are staggering.

As for the incidence of inebriated people causing accidents, I don't know how such statistical data could be derived or verified. But something tells me you are underestimating the problem.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

I feel the same way about hand guns. When you look at all the people who are killed by hand guns every year, it makes no sense that people should be allowed to own them. Is there really any benefit to them besides the rush people get from knowing they're carrying something capable of lethal force. Is that worth the damage it causes to society? I say we make private ownership of hand guns illegal. Who's with me?

In the cases of DUI and handgun deaths, alcohol nor the handgun were the killers - it was the person who drank the alcohol or brandished the gun that did the killing.

Punish the killer, not the weapon of choice.

[non sequitur]

Originally Posted by myboynoah

Just an aside, I've always thought those "Drink Responsibly" ads as very odd. Its like saying, "Here, drink this stuff that will impair your judgment, but do it responsibly."

There's a radio ad that runs in Utah that goes something like this: "Be responsible. Don't drink and drive. But if you do drink and drive and get caught, call the law offices of..."

And people wonder why lawyers get a bad name.

[non sequitur]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

In the cases of DUI and handgun deaths, alcohol nor the handgun were the killers - it was the person who drank the alcohol or brandished the gun that did the killing.

Punish the killer, not the weapon of choice.

I completely agree. I was being facetious in my post -- not sure if that came through.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

I completely agree. I was being facetious in my post -- not sure if that came through.

Well, you got me there - I was looking for a curveball and you brought the heat.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

There's a radio ad that runs in Utah that goes something like this: "Be responsible. Don't drink and drive. But if you do drink and drive and get caught, call the law offices of..."

And people wonder why lawyers get a bad name.

"If it were me (with a DUI) I'd call me."