MA: Freedom to Consume Alchol in Public Bill (Debating)

[A-Bob]

Freedom to Consume Alcohol in Public Bill

1) Possession of open containers of alcohol, the consumption of alcohol, and public intoxication by persons eighteen years of age or older in public open space and when riding on public transportation shall no longer be prohibited. All laws prohibiting the above are hereby repealed.

2) This act shall not be construed to allow possession of open containers of alcohol, the consumption of alcohol, or public intoxication in public buildings or in private vehicles.

Sponsor- Governor tmth

[Jayhawker]

You're fast!

[A-Bob]

I'm against this. I understand why people may think it's fine to consume alcohol when they aren't driving or anything, but these drunk people ARE going to effect others in mass transit and will not only discourage mass transit usage all around and specifically at night (which is something terrible to do for urban areas in bad parts of towns) but it is a safety hazards to those around those consuming, who just are minding their own business.

I understand how this would promote people to take the train or bus instead of driving, but even without this law they can still do that. Drinking in mass transit, encouraging drunks to use it, I'm against. I don't want this to hurt other people using mass transit. If everyone was responsible then ya sure, I'd support this, but the fact is there's dumb people out there.

[shua]

is this overturning an established Mideast law, or is this meant to prohibit any municipality from instituting such a law?

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Public consumption I might be able to be swayed to allow.  But no way will I ever vote for the allowance of public intoxication.

[Jayhawker]

Public consumption I might be able to be swayed to allow.  But no way will I ever vote for the allowance of public intoxication.

I'd be fine with an amendment being written on that.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

I'd still need some persuading.  Although I'm on the fence now.

[A-Bob]

I would consider voting for the bill without the public intoxication portion...however I am still very concerned with the well being of others on the mass transit and if nobody can come up with a good persuasion why that will be safe, I will vote Nay.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Public consumption I might be able to be swayed to allow.  But no way will I ever vote for the allowance of public intoxication.

^^^^

I'm not sure if I will vote for the bill either way, but it needs changing. I'll even introduce an amended version now (which I think will be accepted as friendly):

Freedom to Consume Alcohol in Public Bill

1) Possession of open containers of alcohol and the consumption of alcohol by persons eighteen years of age or older in public open space and when riding on public transportation shall no longer be prohibited. All laws prohibiting the above are hereby repealed.

2) This act shall not be construed to allow possession of open containers of alcohol or the consumption of alcohol in public buildings or in private vehicles.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

As you see I haven't changed anything else yet. It's the original bill, minus the intoxication

[Jayhawker]

Friendly.

[A-Bob]

If nobody minds, I'll bring forward the amendment tomorrow since it's obvious everyone in the Assembly doesn't want the public intoxication wording in there and from there we can continue to discuss the bill.

[Badger]

Public consumption I might be able to be swayed to allow.  But no way will I ever vote for the allowance of public intoxication.

Agree 100%. In real world application, such laws are fundamentally necessary to protect the drunks as much as the people they harass.

[A-Bob]

Voting is now open on the following amendment. Voting will last for 24 hour or until every Assemblymember has voted. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

The bill shall now read the following:

Freedom to Consume Alcohol in Public Bill

1) Possession of open containers of alcohol and the consumption of alcohol by persons eighteen years of age or older in public open space and when riding on public transportation shall no longer be prohibited. All laws prohibiting the above are hereby repealed.

2) This act shall not be construed to allow possession of open containers of alcohol or the consumption of alcohol in public buildings or in private vehicles.

[A-Bob]

Aye

(btw voting will probably close a little short of 24 hours tomorrow since I'll be gone for most the night and have a small window from like 3:30-4:15 to do many things)

[CathKhan]

Aye.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

AYE

[A-Bob]

Sorry to cut this short, but I warned ya

The amendment has passed

Aye-3
Nay-0
Abstain-0

Not Voting- True Conservative (the author of the amendment ), Junkie

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

I'm still not convinced of why this is a good idea, and as of now, plan on voting NAY.  If anybody so chooses, I'm open to hearing why I should vote AYE.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Aye ftr

[Jayhawker]

I'm still not convinced of why this is a good idea, and as of now, plan on voting NAY.  If anybody so chooses, I'm open to hearing why I should vote AYE.

When homeless people drinks, they get arrested, and later released. This is a complete waste of our time and resources, as arresting them doesn't really solve the problem. Now, if that drunken man decided to enter a building, he'd still be arrested under this law. A man drinking is not a risk to the public, so I see no reason in making it illegal.

[A-Bob]

I'm still not convinced of why this is a good idea, and as of now, plan on voting NAY.  If anybody so chooses, I'm open to hearing why I should vote AYE.

When homeless people drinks, they get arrested, and later released. This is a complete waste of our time and resources, as arresting them doesn't really solve the problem. Now, if that drunken man decided to enter a building, he'd still be arrested under this law. A man drinking is not a risk to the public, so I see no reason in making it illegal.

That is soooo dangerously untrue. If that were the case, everyone would be allowed to drink.

[Badger]

I'm still not convinced of why this is a good idea, and as of now, plan on voting NAY.  If anybody so chooses, I'm open to hearing why I should vote AYE.

When homeless people drinks, they get arrested, and later released. This is a complete waste of our time and resources, as arresting them doesn't really solve the problem. Now, if that drunken man decided to enter a building, he'd still be arrested under this law. A man drinking is not a risk to the public, so I see no reason in making it illegal.

That is soooo dangerously untrue. If that were the case, everyone would be allowed to drink.

You are both pratially right: A person drinking too much is very much a risk to the public.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Coming from somebody who lives in a college town and sees this a lot... cops' priorities aren't to go bust people consuming publicly.  I'd say 80%+ of the time, you have to be doing something first before receiving a citation / getting arrested.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

I'm still not convinced of why this is a good idea, and as of now, plan on voting NAY.  If anybody so chooses, I'm open to hearing why I should vote AYE.

When homeless people drinks, they get arrested, and later released. This is a complete waste of our time and resources, as arresting them doesn't really solve the problem. Now, if that drunken man decided to enter a building, he'd still be arrested under this law. A man drinking is not a risk to the public, so I see no reason in making it illegal.

That is soooo dangerously untrue. If that were the case, everyone would be allowed to drink.

You are both pratially right: A person drinking too much is very much a risk to the public.

The question, then, is: Where do we draw the line? Do we just ban people being drunk in public? How do we define that, then?