Legislation & Lobbying

There Ought to Be a Law ... Against Body Odor and Being Loaded While Loaded?

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Despite a plethora of laws already on the books, there’s still plenty of bad behavior that hasn’t yet been banned. But officials in New York and Hawaii are proposing laws to close two such loopholes.

Noting that there is no law making it criminal to carry a loaded weapon while loaded, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is suggesting one, reports the New York Daily News.

“Carrying while intoxicated is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated, and it should be just as illegal,” said Bloomberg at a campaign appearance yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Honolulu city council has decided to put off consideration of a so-called body odor bill, after constitutionality concerns were expressed not only by the American Civil Liberties Union but police and city attorneys, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.

As discussed in an earlier Advertiser article, the bill would ban mass transit passengers from “bring[ing] onto transit property odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system, whether such odors arise from one’s person, clothes, articles, accompanying animal or any other source.”

It also would prohibit those with or without body odor from spitting, urinating or being intoxicated in public.

Additional coverage:

Chicago Tribune: “Body odor proposal smells like Chicago gold”

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