Newsgroups: talk.politics.medicine,talk.politics.guns,talk.politics.misc,alt.motherjones
From: [s t ratos] at [netcom.com] (Steve Fischer)
Subject: Waiting periods for purchasing alcohol?
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 17:30:09 GMT
This is /pub/chan/research/cramer/alcohol.txt from the archive site
ftp.shell.portal.com:
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"What's The Big Deal About Waiting Periods?"
by Clayton Cramer
In my experience, most Americans recognize that there are
legitimate reasons to own a gun, and know better than to believe
that gun prohibition is an effective strategy for reducing gun-
related crimes. But there is a gap between the ardent Second
Amendment defender and the average American, skillfully exploited
by the gun prohibitionists, when waiting periods and background
checks are suggested. "What's the problem? Can't you wait a few
days to buy a gun?"
Unfortunately, principled defenses of the right to keep and
bear arms play into the hands of the gun prohibitionists, by
making our side appear extreme and uncompromising. Here's a more
effective argument: ask them to apply the waiting periods,
background checks, and private sale prohibitions to alcohol,
which causes twice as many deaths each year as firearms. Imagine
a newspaper ad like the one below:
It's Time To Stop The Killing!
In 1987, 19,918 Americans were killed in alcohol-
related traffic accidents.1 Less well known is that
alcohol is a major factor in murder, suicide, rape, child
molestation, and other crimes of violence. Nearly a
third of convicted child molesters had been drinking
before the offense.2 While the exact percentages are
difficult to determine accurately, it is clear that
alcohol is a major factor in spouse and child abuse.3 Of
convicted murderers surveyed in 1986, 23.6% admitted
being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the
offense, and 19.0% were under the influence of both
alcohol and drugs. Similar percentages were found for
rape, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, and arson convicts.4
That's more than 8000 murders a year in which alcohol
played a role!
Alcohol is also a major factor in suicides in the
United States; as much as 80% of suicide attempts are
under the influence of alcohol.5 A subtler form of
suicide, alcoholic cirrhosis, causes at least 11,000
deaths a year in the United States.6
In 1977, alcohol caused between 61,000 and 95,000
deaths in the U.S.7 -- and alcoholic mortality hasn't
declined since then.8 The economic cost to the
government, private insurers, business, and individuals
of this human suffering was estimated by the Federal
Government at $42.7 billion in 19759; no one can claim
that alcohol abuse is a purely private problem.
Much of this is the result of minors who buy alcohol
illegally, and adults who have demonstrated that they can
not be trusted to drink responsibly. Certainly, a person
with prior convictions for alcohol-related crime,
including drunk driving, should not have access to
alcohol. The law already prohibits selling alcohol to
those under age, but that's not stopping the flow of
alcohol or the crimes connected to it, and the law
doesn't prevent adults with a history of criminal alcohol
abuse from obtaining it. If we are serious about
reducing the horrendous costs of alcohol crime, our
legislators need to pass laws to stop this madness!
We propose the following:
1. Every alcoholic beverage container will have a
serial number, so that those who illegally sell alcohol
can be identified and prosecuted.
2. All sales of alcohol will require the buyer to
provide his name, address, physical description, and
driver's license number on a Dealer Record of Sale form.
False IDs have long been used by minors to buy alcohol,
so this information will be verified before the sale is
completed.
3. To discourage people who, in a moment of
depression, buy a bottle, and commit suicide under the
influence of alcohol, there will be a 15 day "cooling-
off" period, during which the buyer's ID will be
verified, as discussed in #2.
4. Most adults have been approached by a minor
outside a liquor store, asking them to buy alcohol. By
requiring full identification, and the serial number of
the container to be purchased at the beginning of the
waiting period, the legitimate buyer won't be able to add
a six-pack to his order on the spur of the moment.
5. Unregistered private party transactions will be
prohibited. Adults may transfer an alcoholic beverage to
another adult through a licensed alcohol dealer after the
fifteen day waiting period and background check.
6. Possession of an alcoholic beverage in a public
place, except while in transit to or from a licensed
alcohol dealer with the package securely wrapped, will be
illegal, since at any time, the temptation to whip out a
six-pack, get drunk, and ram a school bus full of kids,
seems to be more than many Americans can control.
7. To show that we consider alcohol crime serious,
unregistered sales of alcohol will be a misdemeanor;
possession of alcohol in a public place, except while in
transit, will be a misdemeanor or felony, depending on
prior convictions.
8. Alcoholic beverages so high in alcohol content as
to have no legitimate dietary purpose, such as whiskey,
gin, or rum, will require a permit from the state
Attorney-General, which will only be issued for "non-
personal, commercial" uses (TV & film production). There
is no legitimate purpose to such drinks -- they exist for
one purpose only -- getting drunk. Unlicensed possession
or sale of these beverages will be a felony -- up to one
year in jail for unlicensed possession in a public place,
or second offense possession in your home, and a minimum
of four years in prison for unlicensed sale. Existing
owners of these "assault beverages" will be allowed to
keep them, provided they are registered with the state,
but no new ones will be allowed to be sold.
9. Police departments, the state Department of
Justice, and other public agencies, will of course be
completely exempt from these restrictions, since
politicians and police officers do not abuse alcohol,
except in the public interest.
Some will argue, "I drink responsibly. Why should I
be penalized because a few alcohol users become
criminals?" But these aren't penalties -- just
reasonable controls on alcohol. You can still get beer
for your party -- just plan ahead.
Some will argue that this elaborate record keeping
scheme is a waste of time, since when an alcohol crime
takes place, the bottle is seldom recovered, and only a
tiny number of "alcohol criminals" will be prosecuted.
But without the threat of prosecution, who will obey the
law?
Alcohol Control, Inc.
Keeping alcohol "out of the wrong hands".
No rational person would consider this a reasonable way to
fight alcohol abuse -- but go back through this proposal and
substitute the word "firearm" for "alcohol" -- and this is
already the law regulating firearms in California. Your state,
or perhaps the entire country, will be next.
Most gun owners support reasonable restrictions on firearms
sales; we don't want criminals or crazies to have access to guns.
Indeed, most gun owners would have no objection to firearms
registration, if there were not a small but vocal faction in
America that supports registration as a first step towards
confiscation. But when "gun control" is given a far higher
priority than "alcohol control" by the news media and the
politicians, it's hard to believe that public safety is the real
goal behind these efforts.
There is one big difference between alcohol and guns -- ten
thousand six-packs of beer in student hands in Tiananmen Square
wouldn't have made any difference; ten thousand rifles might
have.
--------------------------
Clayton Cramer is a software engineer with a Northern
California manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. His
first book, By The Dim And Flaring Lamps: The Civil War Diary of
Samuel McIlvaine was published in 1990.
_______________________________
1 Terry S. Zobeck, et. al., Trends in Alcohol-Related Fatal
Traffic Crashes, United States: 1977-1987, (Rockville, MD:
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, August 1989),
p. 17.
2 Judy Roizen, "Estimating Alcohol Involvement in Serious
Events" in Alcohol Consumption and Related Problems, (Rockville,
MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1983), p.
210.
3 Ibid., pp. 208, 210-211.
4 Correctional Populations in the United States, 1986,
(Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1989), p. 39.
5 Fifth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and
Health, (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, 1984), p. xx.
6 Ibid., p. xvii.
7 Henry Malin, Judith Coakley, Charles Kaelber, "An
Epidemiological Perspective on Alcohol Use and Abuse in the
United States" in Alcohol Consumption and Related Problems,
(Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, 1983), p. 129.
8 Ibid., p. 99.
9 Thomas R. Vischi, Kenneth R. Jones, et. al., The Alcohol,
Drug Abuse, and Mental Health National Data Book, (Rockville, MD:
Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, 1980), p.
96.
--
I don't tell Netcom how to run their business and they don't tell me
what to think or write ....... Steve Fischer/Atlanta, GA