underage drinking

Interesting discussion at the city commission worksession last night.

Several businesses were caught in a sting operation last April selling beer to minors.
It is an interesting topic, and I'd like to know what our readers think.

Realize first, that we are not talking about enticing 12 year-olds to drink. We are talking about businesses selling to people who are around 18, and they have sold it through carelessness more than some evil intent.

The police sent people in who were under 21. The people did not lie and showed their ID when asked. Even though the ID's showed the people to be under 21, they were sold beer anyway.

One interesting fact that I didn't realize is that drivers licenses in Kansas are vertical for people under 21, and horizontal for people over 21. It should be incredibly easy then, making most excuses bogus.

Another thing I did not know is that parents may legally allow their children to drink, as long as it is in their home. It must be the person's parent or legal guardian, and it must be in the legal residence.

There are lots of questions here.

Not the least of which is the whole drinking age question. Used to be it was 18, which is what it was when i turned 18. Then it was different in various states.
There is the argument that if people are old enough to go get killed in a war, they should be old enough to decide if they will drink or not.

But regardless of how you feel about the age limit, the law is the law, and the law was broken.

Then comes the question of what is fair punishment. The law says they lose their license for three days for first offense, and a week for second offense. None of the current offenders are on their second offense.
This does not apply to liquor stores which are under state authority.

So which days?

The commission debated setting the three days to be Labor Day weekend. That would really hurt financially, and some commissioners thought it would be good to do that to get the attention of the ones who violated the law. Others thought that was too harsh. One jokingly suggested consecutive sundays (when no beer can be sold anyway).

Likely they will make it the weekend after Labor Day, which is sort of a compromise.

What do you think?

What is legitimate punishment?

Is it entrapment?

Let me know what you think.

James