The thing is, if the nanny government didn't mandate dangerous airbags, the child probably wouldn't have been in so much danger. It's not a cool thing to do, driving with a baby next to the steering wheel, but hardly a deliberate felony or child abuse.
I disagree that the child was in significant danger, but you're right. The government meddles (air bag laws)and then adds more meddling on top of it (child seat laws). The sad part is that people don't see the problem with this.
The child really was not in all that much danger as it was. The odds may have been that a nut in the crowd of photogs posed a greater danger to the child than riding in Brittany's lap.
I don't think the primary danger comes from the government-mandated airbag. In any case, what Britney did is wrong, irrespective of its illegality. It's a matter of basic physics.
It's news 'cause she's a celeb, that's all. But what she said by way of self-exculpation was pure "Boo-Hoo poor me is the victim" BS.