The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a ban on distilling spirits in private homes more than 150 years ago.
Plaintiffs challenging the prohibition on home distilling claim the 1868 law is an antiquated relic of Reconstruction-era politics. They argue that Congress overstepped its taxation powers when it enacted the home distilling ban as part of a tax reform measure designed to curb fraud by commercial distillers.
Government attorneys counter that Congress properly restricted where spirits can be distilled to prevent producers from evading federal excise taxes. They warn that lifting the ban would violate Supreme Court precedent and erode congressional powers.
There’s several other countries with a thriving legal home distillation scene, New Zealand being one of the more commonly referenced ones, that disprove the danger.
Ethanol is actually a treatment option for methanol poisoning, plus the amount of methanol is quite low in fermented grain and fruit alcohols to begin with and, despite what people believe, is not concentrated in the heads so even forgetting to remove the heads doesn’t increase the risk of methanol poisoning.
The amount of ethanol vapor in air is also quite low. Many hobby distillation sets also use immersed electric heating elements as they’re way more efficient so igniting ethanol vapor is less risk than you might think.
Yeah, you can also distill using pressure swings entirely to be completely safe.
My neighbor is a licensed gunsmith and gun dealer. He still gets drunk, forgets which guns are loaded, and puts new holes in his walls every few months.
Something tells me that the people most excited about the prospect might have a “safety third” mindset.
Overall, I’m not against getting rid of the ban, even a fairly large still explosion probably won’t take out more than the distiller/their family, and I’m smart enough to not buy sketchy Bob’s moonshine. It does mean I get to play a bit more without breaking any laws.
As a “gun person”, that guy is a fucking idiot. For one, alcohol and guns don’t mix. For two, the only loaded gun should be the one you’re ready to shoot. Leaving random loaded guns laying around is just asking for trouble.
The more time you spend around guns, the easier it is to forget that people usually don’t get second chances. Every one of those negligent discharges should have been a come-to-Jesus moment about his habits. The fact that none have tells me he’s an accident waiting to happen.
Safety third doesn’t mean don’t think of safety. As much as I loathe Mike Rowe, it’s a valuable philosophy regarding safety. The idea is that “safety first” is so cliche as to be borderline useless, and at worst leads people to think that so long as they follow procedures and wear PPE, that they can’t be hurt, like some warding spell. Safety third puts personal responsibility and awareness of ones surroundings before safety
Yeah, but those other countries don’t have the same density of stupid Americans.
How embarrassing, that guy forgot his shirt!