NRAninja
Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2004
- Messages
- 41
The recent NO GUNS FOR 18 YEAR OLDS thread made me wonder about the 21st amendment and alcohol. I haven't done researched credible soruces about this, but I have heard bits and pieces in political science classes and stuff.
Basically, what I'm wondering is how the whole "you have to be 21 to buy, consume, blah blah alcohol" thing started. Here is all the hearsay I've gathered so far:
In the 70s, you could still buy booze if you were 18. At some point that decade (or the early 80s) There was an incident in Maryland regarding a bunch of high school punks driving around drunk with 10 people in the bed of their pickup truck. There was a crash and they all were killed. This is the incident MADD used to get their organization going much like Brady getting shot and HCI. This is what I've heard. Is this true?
Here is the next part of the story I've put together from what I've heard:
MADD started a campaign to get the drinking age raised to 21. They were able to pass a federal law but someone took it all the way to the supreme court and argued on a 21st amendmet angle. The supreme court said then when congress repealed the 18th amendment, they gave up their power over booze, and the law was overturned. Of course, the supreme court didn't have the balls to incorporate the amendment just like it never did with the 2nd, so the states were free to do whatever they wanted.
Since MADD lost at the federal level, they lobbied all the states to change their laws and the federal government extorted the states that didn't want to with the whole highway funding thing. Eventually every state caved in and went to 21. That's why when you go into a bar you see signs that say "As per (insert state here) law, you must be 21 blah blah blah blah"
Is that how it all went down? Was there a supreme court case over it? Does anyone have links to credible references about the 21 alcohol age?
Also, do the liquor store people have forums where they badmouth the BATF like the gun boards? Do they have a Neal Knox equivalent calling them all JBTs? Do liquor store owners go to jail for 10 years if they don't pay the tax on their case of 200 proof assault booze?
Basically, what I'm wondering is how the whole "you have to be 21 to buy, consume, blah blah alcohol" thing started. Here is all the hearsay I've gathered so far:
In the 70s, you could still buy booze if you were 18. At some point that decade (or the early 80s) There was an incident in Maryland regarding a bunch of high school punks driving around drunk with 10 people in the bed of their pickup truck. There was a crash and they all were killed. This is the incident MADD used to get their organization going much like Brady getting shot and HCI. This is what I've heard. Is this true?
Here is the next part of the story I've put together from what I've heard:
MADD started a campaign to get the drinking age raised to 21. They were able to pass a federal law but someone took it all the way to the supreme court and argued on a 21st amendmet angle. The supreme court said then when congress repealed the 18th amendment, they gave up their power over booze, and the law was overturned. Of course, the supreme court didn't have the balls to incorporate the amendment just like it never did with the 2nd, so the states were free to do whatever they wanted.
Since MADD lost at the federal level, they lobbied all the states to change their laws and the federal government extorted the states that didn't want to with the whole highway funding thing. Eventually every state caved in and went to 21. That's why when you go into a bar you see signs that say "As per (insert state here) law, you must be 21 blah blah blah blah"
Is that how it all went down? Was there a supreme court case over it? Does anyone have links to credible references about the 21 alcohol age?
Also, do the liquor store people have forums where they badmouth the BATF like the gun boards? Do they have a Neal Knox equivalent calling them all JBTs? Do liquor store owners go to jail for 10 years if they don't pay the tax on their case of 200 proof assault booze?