A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.
They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.
The ban was part of a law passed during Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Ahh, you can just go buy a gun and use it in your own home with no license or background check eh? Rah rah America I guess.
As for the rest, there are layers upon layers of consumer protection regulations that go into limiting what parts you can buy, what can be imported, what quality it is, how it should work. I guess if you’re gonna be real intense you can go buy some lithium cells, motors, 3d print parts etc, but outside of that there is a vast framework of overlapping regulations trying to keep stupid people from hurting themselves or others. Your ignorance of the systems protecting you doesn’t mean they aren’t there or that they aren’t important, and they probably contribute to the illusion of competence and divine support so many have. It’s not Good keeping you safe, it’s actually the government.
I mean this article is about an American court over turning an American law…so yes, we’re talking about American regulation.
And bad news for us, there is very little consumer protection out there. There is a lot of financial reason to not make horribly dangerous products (America is a pretty litigious nation), but I think you are drastically overestimating the amount of testing and protection that happens by any regulating body.
We can’t even keep illegal drugs from coming in on shipping containers using our normal ports, in what world is a regulatory body inspecting every piece of electronics and every lithium battery that comes into the country. It’s why so many knock offs and faulty devices have issues so often. Just browse Amazon or EBay (not even getting into Alibaba) for 15 minutes and you’ll find cheaply made, never inspected devices all over the place.
And that isn’t even getting into the stuff that is well built, but only if you follow the proper instructions, why do you think we have to have national wide campaigns every thanksgiving just to try and keep people from burning their houses down while deep frying a turkey?
Then there are the tons of hobbies and activities that are just dangerous, we don’t stop anyone from free climbing a mountain or jumping a gorge on a motorcycle, cause once again, it’s not the governments job to keep individuals safe from themselves, not really. The job of government is to keep society safe from individuals, to keep you safe from others, to stop them from interfering with your rights (and it’s debatable how much they even really do that sadly).
But as far as Uncle Sam is concerned, you want to try and slack line across a 100 foot fall, or make home made booze, or eat rare chicken (at home) that’s your choice.
Hello Canadian!
Yes, assuming you are buying a non nfa gun you’re allowed to have from a person instead of a ffl holder you can completely legally buy a gun with no license or background check.
There are many additional jurisdictions that place restrictions on that practice though.
You’re wildly overestimating the volume and enforcement of what can be called consumer protection regulations.
Take canning, for example: there’s no law against advertising some device that can’t reach 15lbs of pressure, the requirement set forth by the fda to prevent botulism, as appropriate for canning even for low acid foods like green beans that are the exact target for botulism.
There’s no law against selling a lithium battery powered device that relies on the controller built into its specific power brick and it’s specifically wired usbc terminated cable for overcharge or overheat safety and reliably catches fire when it’s plugged up to any other power brick/usbc cable combination.
Idk about Canadian canning laws, but I know for a fact that there are no protections about the other example in the great white north because the same design has been all over insurance claims for house fires there too.
To answer your gun “question” the answer is generally no, it’s DEFINITELY no where I live but gun laws vary. I own guns, they required licensing and background checks and waiting periods. My drone had to be registered with the FAA to fly legally and even then many places are completely off limits to me.
Americans tend to be obsessed with convenience and will sacrifice almost anything or anyone to increase their convenience in even the smallest way, including rejecting the concepts of public and personal health and safety.