A season of activism has begun:
- Today’s the day (4 PM Pacific time) that motorbiking legend Malcolm Smith intends to publicly break the law by selling youth motorcycles and ATV at his store in Riverside, Calif. in defiance of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Smith starred with Steve McQueen in the 1970s documentary On Any Sunday, which did much to popularize motorcycle sports. More details at KidsLove2Ride.com:
As a sign of support, a group of small business people and high-profile motorcycle industry celebrities, including racers Jeff Ward and Jeremy McGrath, Glen Helen Raceway owner Bud Feldkamp, and motorsport design guru Troy Lee have all agreed to be on hand to purchase banned units for use by their own children and grandchildren.
No word on whether Public Citizen, or perhaps some on the staff of California CPSIA sponsors/defenders Rep. Henry Waxman, Sen. Barbara Boxer or Sen. Dianne Feinstein, will show up to perform a citizen’s arrest. More from Rob Wilson (“A year ago I would have been shy about supporting ‘illegal’ activities”), Pashnit Motorcycle Forums (“A stupid law that must be defied”), Motorcycle.com, Motorcycle USA, Cycle News, Racer X, Eastern Dirt (Smith has had so many offers of support that he changed the time of the protest to the afternoon so that more could attend).
Advance press notice has already been strong: Daniel McDermon, New York Times “Wheels” blog; USA Today (CPSC has gotten as many as 5,000 emails, letters and calls in one day protesting the ban); Riverside Press-Enterprise. Earlier here.Update: Early protest coverage at DirtRider and at Smith’s KidsLove2Ride.
- Meanwhile, affected crafters, small business people and dealers are making plans to attend the Washington, D.C. fly-in rally, public hearing and CPSIA outreach events in Washington, D.C. April 1. A new website is up on the event titled AmendtheCPSIA.com (not “Repeal”?) and Rick Woldenburg has many updated details at his site. More: David Foster, Chicago Boyz.
11 Comments
Husqvarna is the Swedish motorcycle brand famous for Smith’s endorsement. Apropos of nothing at all, I’ve visited the Husqvarna plant in Huskvarna, Sweden, because I have a cousin who worked there.
If they are arrested and prosecuted, I have 2 words: Jury Nullification.
Time for the 3rd box of a free society – the Jury Box to be felt with BS laws like this.
Jury nullification is just such a long shot (at least according to Jack McCoy). I’d hope that the industry(s) could set up a couple of broadly constructed test cases which could do serious damage to the statute on appeal. Though time + fees would equal lots of belly-up mom & pop shops, it just seems like our friends on The Hill are more interested in rewriting contract doctrine (AIG) for the cameras and would push this calamity to the backburner for next term, or the next after that…
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Walter, what the hell are “crafters”? Is that the new PC for craftsmen? Give me a break – write in English, man.
The majority of crafters are women, so “crafters” is more accurate than “craftsmen.” The uber-kludgy PC term would be “craftspeople.”
PC? Nah. It’s a matter of self preservation to say crafters instead of crapters. Example: crocheted acrylic toilet paper roll covers made to look like poodle heads is closer to crap than craft.
To me, “crafters” is not merely a gender-neutral substitute for “craftsmen”, but has a somewhat different meaning. I threw the question out on Twitter and most seemed to agree.
Per @detante: “A craftsman is a highly skilled artisan. Crafter is more indicative of a hobbyist. And craftsman uses more characters.”
Per @candaceapril: “In my mind Crafters = both casual crafters and people who make & sell crafty items; Craftsmen = prof. artisans with great skill.”
Also see Wacky Hermit, above.
OK, I guess. It sounds asinine to me. Like “fishers”, it is a new PC term. Really, craftspeople sounds better. How about craftwork associates?
Haha to C.a.s.a.s!! Actually, put me down for some of that art. Maybe the crafts-ahole will die and I can make some mulah out of it.
Mr. Smith should require any arresting officer to quote the state law that is being violated as any federal law is unenforceable under the tenth amendment of the Constitution. Our system of government is set up such that the federal government is subservient to the sovereign states, this relationship has been subverted over the last several decades. It is time for each of us to demand our state representatives to re-institute this relationship between the federal government and the sovereign states.
[…] KneeSlider, CycleTrader, ShopFloor (and more there). On protests, see RacerX Online, CALA (on Malcolm Smith protest). Missouri legislator Tom Self made a 10-day tour to Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky on […]