Looks like state legislators were a little too quick to get rid of that "much-ridiculed law" to make alcohol sellers check all IDS, regardless of the customers' ages:
State Excise Police reported that officers conducted more than 5,000 inspections from Jan. 1 through June 30 during which people ages 18 to 20 accompany officers and try to buy alcohol. The agency found violations by 8.8 percent of bars and restaurants and 4.3 percent of liquor stores — down from more than 40 percent in 2009.
The goal of the law was to keep sales to minors down, and it worked as it was supposed to. I know there is a tradeoff involved that not everyone accepts -- the price for the law is a loss of liberty and choice for businesses and imbibing adults. I know I'm being casual about the slippery-slope potentials, but it seems to me the benefits outweighed the liabilities.
And the fix is certainly worse than the problem. Sellers now have discretion on checking IDS except for patrons who "reasonably appear older than 40." That's a pretty subjective judgment, and 40 is a tricky age to call -- it's right in between loss of the last remnants of youth and the first signs of the ravages of age. Much better to give the sellers no discretion at all or give them total authority to act on their own. I suspect most of them will continue to behave as if the previous law were in place. It's just a minor inconveni
