To Stop A Car Thief
Even though I like the idea of reducing crime in the scrap industry, I have never liked the thought of imposing additional regulations on an industry. I’m not sure that simply taking away one method of thievery after another will ever solve the problem. Instead of finding every possible thing a person could steal and trying to make it more difficult to do, why don’t lawmakers look more into how we can stop people from becoming thieves in the first place. It’s kind of like that old saying about teaching a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime, only in reverse. Take away a person’s ability to steal one thing, he/she will just find another thing to steal. Keep someone from becoming a thief and stop a lifetime of crime.
Tags: laws, recycling, regulations, scrap metal
May 11th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Seems silly… But I have to wonder about the real motives of this new law. Notice that the only way many of us can comply with this law is to pay one of two 3rd party contractors to do the reporting for us as the law makes no provision for us to do it on our own. (Hey, even the IRS allows us to file our own taxes.) How would you like to be one of only two businesses in the world in any given industry. What if there were only 2 scrap metal yards in the US– you on the left coast and me on the right? Talk about sweet deals. The two insurance companies involved in reporting are probably the real reason for this rule.
While I don’t want to condone drug use I think it needs to be pointed out that most metals thefts and most crimes in general are done by addicts. If these same addicts had access to cheap, legal drugs and counciling they would be far less likely to steal. Instead, they go to college (prison) on minor drug charges and come out with an advanced degree in hard core crime.
The war on drugs isn’t working– never has– and those of us who do the right things are forced to pay the cost. And as soon as addicts learn to take advantage of our businesses as they look for new ways to steal, those of us in legit business get hit with fines, new laws, taxes and unnecessary fees to help pay for it all.