It cannot be done for several reasons. The reason I place first comes from decades of contemplating designing foolproof equipment for military communications. We put the issue this way, “Every time we make our XXX more fool-proof God decided to knock us in the hubris and provide better fools.”

The second reason in my mind is simple. Any purely safe world would be purely regimented, without risks, and a terrible utter bore to live in.

The third reason is so simple and obvious I put it third rather than first where some might think it belongs. It is MY responsibility to behave in a safe manner. If I screw up, then I screw up.

Research into safety is a good idea and should be encouraged. Rather than legislating it, however, we should create an utterly toothless testing board that cannot make rules or enforce rules. All it can do is report on product safety for various products. And it should publish its findings. Then it is ENTIRELY up to the consumer to pick a level of safety he or she is willing to accept for himself or herself and for any children for which they are responsible.

I am not responsible for your children. Nor is the government. We are each responsible for our own children. It may be sad that some parents earn the Darwin award one step removed by providing their children entirely too convenient ways to kill themselves. So be it. That is part of paying for your freedom.

{^_^}

US Government, saving people from themselves one corpse at a time.

DrAllecon on April 6, 2009 at 12:01 PM

And where did this all begin???? China! China! China! China sending crap disguised as consumer goods. And what does our glorious congress do to rectify the problem??? Attack American industry. Attack American households! Attack American consumers!!

What’s next — banning cars because children might ride in them?

That is the ultimate goal, after all.
David

I had a book of puns in my youth. One sequence ran:

Loss : the Rules we live by. As In “I just updated the Tax Loss”

Centaur: A person who makes our Loss. “Centaur Specter from PA”
Incongruous: Where Centaurs make our Loss. “Centaur Specter described his work Incongruous”

At the age of 9, I thought the image of a person with a horse’s ass being responsible for our “Loss” was amusing. Now I find it depressing.

In a recession, our government is intentionally harming businesses and manufacturers to the point where they to will have to lay people off, not due to the economy, but due to government over regulation.

Who eats 4-wheelers?

When I was 6, I drove an ATV into the wall of a shed. (it’s a long story, well, not really). I remember thinking after I finished crying, “If only the government had more regulations.”

I had a similar experience. I can tell you the only “regulations” I was concerned about having broken were my dad’s.

The Wall Street Journal noted a study by the Motorcycle Industry Council that concluded “90% of the youth fatalities and injuries on motorcycles occur when kids ride adult vehicles.”

Completely useless statistics in the guise of revelation really annoy me.

I’m assuming it really is true that its safer for kids to ride vehicles sized for them -it makes sense. But without knowing the % of time “youths” (including adult-sized youths) are riding adult vehicles, that 90% is a meaningless number.

Resellers like Goodwill and the Salvation Army are affected which in turn affects 100,000′s of people in this economy.
Libraries are affected because books printed prior to the mid 80′s contain trace amounts of lead in the ink.
Home based businesses are affected because they don’t have the monetary resources to pay for the testing of EACH component of their goods for lead. So, they either have to shut down or become outlaws. **Think toy trains carved out of a wooden block and then painted — the wood has to be tested, each color of paint has to be tested…Think Confirmation dresses — each color of cloth has to be tested, each type of button has to be tested, each color of button has to be tested, each applique has to be tested, each color of applique has to be tested…

ATV sales to kids have stopped in Montana and Arkansas. Book donations to libraries are being turned away. Books are being pulled from library shelves. Home based businesses are shutting down. Resellers are turning away donated goods…

One last thing, each of the 50 state Attorney Generals are authorized by this law to ENFORCE the provisions of the CPSIA even if the CPSC decides to stand idly by. Won’t that be fun?

I got hit by a car when I went airborn all Knievel style across a dirt road on my KX-80 when I was 12.

If only they had had more legislation….

cntrlfrk on April 6, 2009 at 12:11 PM

When I was 12, I was driving cars.

I think there was already government legislation about that. ;o)

Hey, put a warning label on it if you have to; but let me eat in peace.

marklmail on April 6, 2009 at 1:22 PM

LOVE IT!

US Government, saving people from themselves one corpse at a time.

DrAllecon on April 6, 2009 at 12:01 PM

What happened to limited government.

Are there any truly free countries left in the world?

TheBigOldDog on April 6, 2009 at 1:25 PM

This is still the most free and it is that which makes all of these government grabs for power the most frustrating. We, who value our freedom and are willing to take responsibility for our own actions have nowhere else to go.
These government loving socialists have dozens of countries where they could go and live under government oppression. Instead, they choose to bring that oppression to us. F the lot of ‘em.