I recently went to a local liquor store in Maryland to pick up a bottle of wine. I was turned away because the cashier said that in the state of MD it is illegal for businesses to accept any out of state license that is vertical rather than horizontal. Now this of course infuriated me and I stormed out of there yelling and swearing which made me look like some kind of alcoholic. Nevertheless it got me thinking, is this an actual law? And how on earth did this get passed?
So I took it upon myself to research this so called law and see if there is any validity to the cashiers claim. Turns out there is no such law, but the county does encourage business owners to “not serve anyone that causes any doubt regardless of the ID.” Just think about that statement. So apparently MD is not open for business to people outside of the state. They encourage you to visit the city and spend money on ball games and food, but don’t think about drinking! I could see if they passed a law not to accept vertical ID’s from non bordering states, you could make that argument. But to encourage business owners to essentially turn away ID’s from all other 49 states negates the reason for state issued identification.
The purpose of state issued identification is so you can prove who you are wherever you go. When you have to fly somewhere you always present your drivers license as your form of ID. When you use your credit card or write a check you are asked to show your drivers license to verify your identity. So the state of MD is saying that it is ok for you to use your state issued form of ID to get on a plane or use a credit card, but not by alcohol. So you can lie about your identity to get on a plane that you could potentially hijack, you could lie about your identity to use someone’s credit card and commit identity theft, but when it comes to alcohol the state of MD puts its foot down. Either you are completely consistent with your treatment of ID’s or you don’t pass any law or encourage any law that says otherwise. I can only think of two reasons why business owners would take part in such a ridiculous antic:
1. Business owners are nervous that the liquor control board will suspend their liquor license or levy higher fines for even a minor infraction.
2. The state of MD is using this as a fundraiser for people to spend the $45 needed to get a new ID that is horizontal that correlates with what the state recommends business owners accept as identification.
Bottom line this is a breach of my personal liberty to choose if I want to buy and consume alcohol. This is a dangerous road that only leads to more liberties being halted. When does it end? At what point do we just have United States of America driver’s licenses to standardize the process? The funny part about is that even if something like that started, certain states would find a reason to not accept it for certain purchases. Businesses making decisions on accepting business from out of state consumers because of fear is a great way to stifle growth in the private sector. If it turns out that this is indeed a fundraiser for the state to collect $45 from everyone turning twenty one, then this a civil lawsuit is needed (State of MD v. all of its residents, very catchy!). Its forcing repeat business, the expiration date could be three years after you turn twenty one but they won’t let you wait. Either way this is an insane way to govern a state. I hope that other states don’t take part in such mindless legislation, and I hope that other states don’t have organizations like the liquor control board that put such unlawful pressure on small business owners. If marijuana ever gets legalized god only knows the hoops we’ll have to jump through to obtain a good that should be easy to be obtained because it has been deemed legal. Same with alcohol, over the age of 21 makes you eligible for consumption. I guess it just isn’t that cut and dry same places.
End Result I get to go to the MVA and get a Maryland issued horizontal license to appease all of the fear consumed business owners of the state.
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