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by kristjansson·5y ago·view on hn ↗
The various personal freedom takes on regulation like this seem ring hollow.

Regulations like this impose constraints on economic and commercial activities, not personal ones. No one will be prevented from rolling a mint leaf into their own cigar. It was perfectly legal to walk around New York under Bloomberg with a bucket of homemade sugar-water and a straw.

The thing curtailed is profiting from activities which create undue harm. Should we feel our inability to buy a poorly-insulated household appliance, or a car without seatbelts[1] as a loss of personal freedoms? Should the market decide the appropriate level of inflammability for home furniture? I think we generally recognize that allowing the profit motive to justify a failure to prevent harm as immoral and socially undesirable. Why should limiting the motivation to induce harmful activity in others be viewed as paternalistic and patronizing?

[1]: sidestepping the question of seatbelt-use regulations, which are arguably a restriction on _personal_ freedoms