Comments about ‘Hughes charging into the fray for Huntsman liquor bill’

For every step forward, this idiotic theocracy we live in takes 2 steps back. If you believe these moronic law makers, every teen is a closet alcoholic who wrecklessly kills people on the roads after getting tanked. And every drinker can't control themselves and just drinks until they pass out, and then gets behind the wheel. Is there a rash of drunk driving we don't know about?

Here's something for you to chew on. There are more fatal accidents in Utah caused by cell phones or drowsiness than by drinking. How many of you are guilty of driving drowsy or while on the phone?

So every time Greg Hughes runs a bill, the D-News is going to rehash the false and unsubstantiated allegations against him that were ultimately dismissed?

So now the Church and State leaders will have a record of people that like to have a drink? Prohibition did not work on a national level and it won't work on a state level. If the state wants to ban alcohol then close all ABC stores --- no revenue to be made in that though. The machine might only cost $8,000 but the freedom of a drinker or better yet a citizen is taken away. CONTROL does not stop the problem, education could

This ID scanning idea is almost certainly worse than the private club system it would replace. Just say no (actually, NO!) to any "liquor reform" that is actually a huge step backwards for privacy and adulthood.

This ID scanning system is un-American and probably criminal. Tell me, where else does the government keep track, in an electronic database, when and where people drink alcohol? The article never mentions WHY we are doing this. Where do we live, the former USSR? Spend the same amount of money on education and you'd have better results.

Our legislators will never get it. Almost all of Utah's private clubs are shams - i.e., they are just regular bars, plain and simple (not "private clubs" by any common definition), that simply use a loophole in Utah's liquor laws to serve mixed drinks (leaving visitors baffled). Huntsman gets it - he knows it's just absurd to continue the sham. Let bars be bars. But our delusional legislators want to believe the drinking public is equally duped, and the dollar at the door is somehow beneficial.

But now Huntsman disappoints by supporting ID scanning. So, instead of focusing on ridding ourselves of ridiculous rules that result in nothing but a sham, we get Big Brother invasion of privacy.

I'm with Uncannygunman on this. If intrusion of privacy is the compromise, let's just keep the sham-bar "private club" practice in place.

That a lot of folks vote dry but drink wet!!!

Utah's private club laws have NO bearing on DUI Investigations. None, zip, zilch, nada.

It's sad to see a group that was started with such good intentions turn into a zealot group. MADD has lost touch with reality, and seems to be content to take away legal rights to push their agenda.

As for the scanners, no problem with their use, as long as there isn't a database attached. It's a silly idea that won't be used by law enforcement, they don't care...the database is there solely for these legislators to try and obtain the information....so they can use it against people.

Verify I'm 21 and it's a valid ID, that's fine, just don't store it!

I am a non drinker, and I do not like this idea of scanning people's IDs when entering a bar. It seems like it leaves it open to a huge invasion of privacy.

The issue is not why aren't we as stupid as the rest of the country. It's what can we do that would make things better?

There is not the first bit of evidence that any change to Utah liquor laws would make things better for the vast majority of Utah residents.

We do not owe drinkers easier access to their vice. We certainly owe nothing to the small number of drinking drivers that would abuse easier access.

The discussion should center about what do we, the majority of Utah voters, get out of the proposed legislation? And, as I see it, the answer is zip, zilch, nada.

So, why are the Guv and friendly legislators so anxious to pass a bill that does nothing for most Utahns? The "hospitality industry" and its money. There can be no other explanation.

Let's make this a win-win. Give drinkers easier access, but make the "hospitality industry," including brewers, distillers, and distributors fully liable for the carnage they cause.

Liberalize Utah's dram shop laws, then let the "hospitality industry" find solutions that work for them and for us.

Scanning ID's mean that when a drunk driver is arrested, the police will know where the drinks came from. The tavern owners will be liable to the crime.

They'd rather just collect yearly $$ from their members.

At least someone in the legislature has some guts.