Three Strikes and You're Dry

Oy:

A Tennessee Senate sub-committee has passed a bill that would ban repeat DUI offenders from buying alcohol for ten years or longer.

People convicted of a third drunk driving charge would receive the ban. These people, according to law enforcement officers, are usually dealing with serious drinking problems.

The bill seeks to make it more difficult for these people to buy alcohol, thus potentially lowering the amount of drinking and driving in Tennessee.

“Last year, we had 751 people who got their third (DUI),” Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains,told WSMV about the bill he introduced. “And they predicted this year it would be 900.”

I like Senator Niceley — we chat occasionally on Twitter, and he seems like a principled small government conservative. But this ban of his, Constitutional questions aside, seems as likely to have the intended consequences as Seattle’s ill-fated minimum wage hike. Likely it will just produce a lot of paperwork to cover a small number of people who will simply get their booze another way.