Your Yard Sale Is Illegal (seriously: feds now regulate those too)

Reason ^ | May 7, 2009, 4:41pm | Katherine Mangu-Ward

[JSDude1]

SCREW THAT! Unless of course the feds want to buy all my old junk (perhaps a little “bailout money”)?

[clee1]

The problem in that is the damages.

Unless your child developed serious medical problems, and you’d have to prove that the item caused the problem, your damages would be the price you paid for the item.

No money in it for the ambulance chasers.

[ccmay]

If any of these government slugs happen to read this, I’d like to invite them to shove it up their @$$. They can never possibly enforce it. Such dimwitted over-reaching regulation does nothing but undermine respect for the law.

[pandoraou812]

I wish they would mind their own damn business & try to sort the messes they’ve already made instead of creating new ones. Shaking my head again & wondering just what these people are on.

[MagnoliaB]

So is there a handbook on what to do when you go to the dump to unload your trash and there are people that snatch stuff before you can throw it into the bins that don't speak English so you can tell them what's wrong with the stuff you are throwing away?

Wow, extreme run on sentence. Where's the grammar nazis?

[Clint Williams]

CPSC’s laws and regulations apply to ... thrift stores, consignment stores, charities, and individuals holding yard sales and flea markets.

Ain't life in a totalitarian country just grand? Just until you see what's coming down the road next.

America -- a great idea, didn't last. Way too many did way too little for way too long. That's how civilizations fall.

[bamahead]

Selling old kids books, anything with metal, paint, or plastic that a kid might use, old clothes or shoes with metal components that a kid might wear? ... Technically, you could be on the hook for thousands of dollars worth of fines.



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[TribalPrincess2U]

My thinking also. There is always those types around. All it takes is a phone call.

Can listing make a difference?

— List everything “as is”.
— Consumer beware.
— Use in a safe manner, as I did.
— Not responsible for your stupidity.
— I have your name on your check and I know where you live...nah, forget that one.

[FormerACLUmember]

I think that micromanagement with vast hyper-regulation of a local yard sale MAY slightly overstep the Constitutional powers granted to the federal government.

Just a TINY little bit unconstitutional.

[TigersEye]

Good point about their messes. They want to regulate every breath we the people make but the government creates more debt and damage than the rest of us 300 million put together.

[Ken H]

A yard-sale isn't interstate commerce.

Of course it isn't, but the Wickard Commerce Clause is in effect and SCOTUS may say otherwise:

Where necessary to make a regulation of interstate commerce effective, Congress may regulate even those intrastate activities that do not themselves substantially affect interstate commerce.

J. Scalia concurring, Gonzales v Raich

_____________________________________

Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything, and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.

J. Thomas dissenting, Gonzales v Raich

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

These guys are out of control. My family is at a flea market this weekend. I refuse to call them to tell them not to sell anything. Screw ‘em.

[pandoraou812]

Common sense is dead. I swear there is something in the water these kooks drink.

[Clint Williams]

When I get around to holding my yard sale the last thing I’ll do is contact the Feds to ask what I can or cannot sell. They may KMWA.

Or toss it in the slammer. Hey, life won't be so bad in the re-education camps. Until Nobama cuts the funding.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

The only not-so-bleak aspect of these laws/regulations is that the law seems to require knowing violations (i.e., it only applies if you sell a product that you know is not safe.

Still seems like overstepping, still seems open to abuse, and still shouldn't be a Federal issue (though, under the currently-prevailing Commerce Clause jurisprudence, the Courts certainly wouldn't stop it from being one). But, I'm not sure this will practically be as much of a disaster as some think it might be.

[durasell]

Don’t know about those holding a yard sale, but I’d certainly consult the thing before giving a toy or other item to a kid.

[Dead Corpse]

The hell you say...

[GlennBeck08]

How long ‘till they’re taxed too?

[SoldierDad]

I’ll be dead before that, believe me.

[blackminorca]

and forget those church bake sales.