The right to bear drain cleaner?

[Lazier Than Thou]

So in Illinois, there's a new state law stating that:

A new state law requires those who buy drain cleaners and other caustic substances to provide photo identification and sign a log.

Why?

State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) obtained passage of the new law following attacks in which drain cleaner was poured on two Chicago women, badly scarring them.

This leads me to a question and maybe it's a stupid question.

What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with the government officials in Illinois? In what possible way could this, even theoretically, help prevent(or even help apprehend) someone doing this exact same crime in the future?

Look, I understand gun registration or background checks and all that. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I understand where it's coming from. This just blows me out of the water.

What happened to those poor women is absolutely deplorable. I'm not going to suggest otherwise. But making people show a photo ID when the buy drain cleaner is not going to change what happened or prevent it from happening again. I even have serious doubts it'll help in finding the dirtbag that would have committed such a heinous crime.

I don't even have words for this anymore. Thoughts?

 

[SaetonChapelle]

Thats... amusing. Oo

I had no idea in my area you couldnt buy paint without being over 18 and having a photo id. At that point I was 19, however did not have a drivers license nor a non drivers ID and I was pissed. xD I suppose I understand but this... this is just...

Ug.

 

[Batou667]

I have a friend who was once asked for photo ID to purchase a Cornish pasty (that's a beef and vegetable patty in pastry, for the non-Brits here). I hereby claim to have won this thread vicariously!

(The reason being that this friend is incredibly young-looking, and the shop worker suspected he was a truanting school kid)

 

[Esotera]

You can potentially use them to make explosives, but yeah, this is stupid. The quantities of drain cleaner you'd need to buy for even a small bomb would arouse a lot of suspicion. This law is stupid.

 

[Lawnmooer]

Thats a bit excessive...

Though I've always wondered if any criminals ever tried using drain cleaner to dissolve bodies (Due to bathroom varieties being designed to dissolve hair and dead skin that clog up bath drains)

Also I recently found out that in certain shops I frequent that you need to be 18 and have ID to buy Lemonade Shandy (<0.1% vol of alcohol) and need to be 21 and have ID to buy lighters (Yet other shops allowed me to buy Zippo's and lighter fluid and the like at 16)

It seems some people are a bit paranoid about youths being idiots and criminals...

 

[joe-h2o]

Yeah, if you really want sodium hydroxide, you can just buy it from a chemical supplier or a soap making store. Much less hassle than extracting it from drain cleaner or bleach.

 

[mcnally86]

So in Illinois, there's a new state law stating that:

A new state law requires those who buy drain cleaners and other caustic substances to provide photo identification and sign a log.

Why?

State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) obtained passage of the new law following attacks in which drain cleaner was poured on two Chicago women, badly scarring them.

This leads me to a question and maybe it's a stupid question.

What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with the government officials in Illinois? In what possible way could this, even theoretically, help prevent(or even help apprehend) someone doing this exact same crime in the future?

Look, I understand gun registration or background checks and all that. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I understand where it's coming from. This just blows me out of the water.

What happened to those poor women is absolutely deplorable. I'm not going to suggest otherwise. But making people show a photo ID when the buy drain cleaner is not going to change what happened or prevent it from happening again. I even have serious doubts it'll help in finding the dirtbag that would have committed such a heinous crime.

I don't even have words for this anymore. Thoughts?

The odd thing is this photo ID screening really only stops minors from buying drain cleaner, do they think kids are doing this? And if so that is scary. People will always find ways to hurt each other, laws like this really hurt the responsible drain owners more then the criminal ones. Im assuming the criminals will find something else.

 

[mcnally86]

Doesn't the US test their senators for mental retardation before putting them in office? :/

Everyone is a little special in the head, it's just to what degree can you die it. You have to be a certain type of crazy to want to be in politics.

 

[Bobic]

You can potentially use them to make explosives, but yeah, this is stupid. The quantities of drain cleaner you'd need to buy for even a small bomb would arouse a lot of suspicion. This law is stupid.

Hey, it could at least stop this guy

 

[KefkaCultist]

Doesn't the US test their senators for mental retardation before putting them in office? :/

Definitely not Illinois apparently. We've put up with so much stupidity in our state government for a long time and this is just one more thing to add to the list of moronic things my state does instead of attempting to fix the economy or other important stuff.

 

[Jedoro]

Doesn't the US test their senators for mental retardation before putting them in office? :/

State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) obtained passage of the new law following attacks in which drain cleaner was poured on two Chicago women, badly scarring them.

Congressman. Or Representative. Either way, not Senator. Just an FYI.

OT: Wow, great idea, Illinois. Funny how you have to show ID and sign for drain cleaner, yet anyone can buy GASOLINE at a pump and put it in one of those red plastic jugs with no suspicion whatsoever, then find a lighter and burn some shit up.

 

[Lilani]

Huh, I'm surprised something like this doesn't exist in Missouri. We're sort of the meth capitol of the world, here.

I don't really ever have to buy drain cleaner, so I'm not sure how I feel about this...I mean unless you're a plumber or you ARE making meth you really don't need to buy drain cleaner on a regular basis. I think the last time my dad ever bought drain cleaner was like three years ago. If it were something like milk I might have a problem, but for something you should only have to buy a few times per decade anyway I don't see much of a problem. You're already being watched everywhere you go with every business you enter and every transaction you make. What's a few more logs on your purchases going to matter?

 

[Whateveralot]

Very straightforward: is it harmful in any way, under any circumstance? Yes? FORBIDDEN!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The right to bear drain cleaner?

Favourite Post Title of 2012 so far.

 

[Sentox6]

I was thinking about a semi-related issue recently. I went to buy a can of spray paint (automotive purposes), and I had to present ID to prove I was over 18.

My issue with this is that the age of consent in my country is 16.

So apparently you can have sex and possibly procreate two years before you're mature enough to be trusted with paint.

Ok.

 

[spartan231490]

So in Illinois, there's a new state law stating that:

A new state law requires those who buy drain cleaners and other caustic substances to provide photo identification and sign a log.

Why?

State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) obtained passage of the new law following attacks in which drain cleaner was poured on two Chicago women, badly scarring them.

This leads me to a question and maybe it's a stupid question.

What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with the government officials in Illinois? In what possible way could this, even theoretically, help prevent(or even help apprehend) someone doing this exact same crime in the future?

Look, I understand gun registration or background checks and all that. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I understand where it's coming from. This just blows me out of the water.

What happened to those poor women is absolutely deplorable. I'm not going to suggest otherwise. But making people show a photo ID when the buy drain cleaner is not going to change what happened or prevent it from happening again. I even have serious doubts it'll help in finding the dirtbag that would have committed such a heinous crime.

I don't even have words for this anymore. Thoughts?

You're right, it won't help. There are just too many people who buy drain cleaner and the like for any registry to help. It's crap, but so is the NDAA, the SOPA, and a whole lot of other laws on the books both federally and in several states. Hell, look at the assault-weapon ban in california. It's practically a handbook on how not to make a gun law.

 

[godofallu]

This is actually a good law.

1 You don't have to be 18 at the moment to buy drain cleaner, which is an incredibly damaging acid. How stupid is that?

2 Gangs have been known to use it to melt bodies.

So you get a quick ID check, and sign a sheet. Who cares? We have ID checks for alcohol and cigarets too. It is no big deal.

 

[xPixelatedx]

You know what else is caustic? Stomach acid. So should we all have some form of ID and license just for having stomachs? You know, there are ways people can force themselves to vomit. It could be directed at a person. OH NO!

 

[teknoarcanist]

Why would a bear need drain-cleaner?

 

[Soxafloppin]

I went to buy glue from B&Q for some DIY my dad was doing, The guy asked me for I.D I knew why, he then asked me if I "wanted a bag", I didn't get the joke until I got outside.