US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional | Reuters
Posted by wgcole01@reddit | Libertarian | View on Reddit | 12 comments
GuestWeary@reddit
I thought this was to prevent people from going blind due to methanol poisoning
Myte342@reddit
Huh, this decision seems to have parallels to HB40 'anti ghost gun' law the VA gov just signed. It has long been an American tradition that people can build their own guns at home for their own purposes. This law basically makes it so you have to get an FFL before you are allowed to manufacture firearms in order to experiment and iterate the science involved or run the risk of the Feds claiming a block of untouched plastic is a ghost gun because their master gunsmiths and 'readily convert it' to a firearm with a mere 72 hours of work.
Heck, technically, this makes the traditional potato cannon illegal too and classifies that as an illegal ghost gun. It has no serial number, it's made of plastic, it operates by propelling a projectile through expanding gas...
Similar arguments made in this decision against making at-home distilleries could be applied to at home gun manufacturing as well. "Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place."
Individual-Double596@reddit
I initially thought the same, but the main difference here though is this is federal rather than state. The federal government only has powers enumerated by the constitution, so they were using their "power to tax" to ban home distilling. States don't have the same restriction.
This does have some potential implications for gun cases though: * A federal ban on privately made firearms would face the same test except even more stringent because firearms are a right while alcohol isn't. If courts are honest, such a law wouldn't stand a chance. * Legalizing privately made suppressors or machine guns may be easier now. The machine gun ban is already a very challenging law to justify federal jurisdiction for, but homemade machine guns/suppressors are even harder, and now more case law helps.
JimmyReagan@reddit
Man I remember thinking "you know I don't really like beer so it wouldn't be worth home brewing that but it might be fun to distill my own whiskey" and finding out it's still super illegal for some reason.
Honestly I wouldn't even care but it's rather hard to find the materials for it.
TurnLeftLookRight@reddit
So does this mean my great-grandfather wasnt a criminal after all?
dirtyasseating@reddit
Yes!!!!
My wife has been very clear about me being allowed only 1 felon at a time, so I haven't been able to distill yet.
I'm so excited, I'm going to go out and buy some potatoes right now!
Mike401k@reddit
I’ll bite, Whats the felon you’re currently doing?
dirtyasseating@reddit
Who said anything about any felonies?
you some kinda narc?
ralphie0341@reddit
Wouldn't you like to know fedboi
MrSt4pl3s@reddit
Based libertarianism
Some-Mountain7067@reddit
Awesome! 👏
justsayno_to_biggovt@reddit
Freedom tastes better every day...