Why are you escalating this? The kids were never in danger of going to jail. The cops acted correctly here. It's against the law in that town to knock on doors looking for a business transaction without permission from the local government. You don't need a license to solicit. You don't need a license to shovel the old lady's walk. You need a license to knock on people's doors and try to conduct a business transaction. I lean pretty libertarian, and personally, I wouldn't even have the option of getting a permit to do door to door solicitations - I'd ban them all. I don't believe the government should have the right to allow someone to knock on my door if I don't want them there, but why do folks here have a problem with the concept that it is illegal to knock on someone's door to solicit work?
What I think a lot of you posters are missing is that these kids probably woke up somebody who was sleeping after working the night shift and that guy called the cops on the kids because he (rightfully!) does not like to be disturbed in the privacy of his own home.
And somehow that doesn't stick in your craw as a violation of the fundamental right to the pursuit of happiness?
In order to get the permission from the local government a teenager needs to pony up $450 in protection money from the Local Mob otherwise they are going to blow up their business.
What I think a lot of you posters are missing is that these kids probably woke up somebody who was sleeping after working the night shift and that guy called the cops on the kids because he (rightfully!) does not like to be disturbed in the privacy of his own home.
And if they had paid the $450 in protection money to the Local Mob then they would not have woken up the neighbors?
This does not compute.
The fact of the matter is that the only reason these kids were cited is because they were NOT illegal aliens. All the jobs that teenagers used to do like mowing lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow, washing cars, painting fences is now being done by illegal aliens who are either working under the table for crooked contractors or working on their own without getting any of those silly "permits."
One should not need a "permit" to shovel your neighbors' snow, or mow your neighbor's lawn, or knock on the neighbor's door and ask if there isn't some odd job that a teenager might be able to do to earn some cash to pursue their happiness.
Sometimes I marvel at how much the liberal mentality of "government knows best" has infected this site.
The Colonists went to war with the most powerful country in the history of the world over a tax on tea, and yet we have freepers who are so brainwashed into the "government knows best" theology that they are willing to defend a government that effectively shuts down the ability of teenagers to learn to work by the sweat of their brow and to profit from their labor.
“Why are you escalating this? The kids were never in danger of going to jail.”
The only force ANY law has is the force of government guns. That is precisely what happened to Eric Garner. If any person fails to adhere immediately to the law, then they ARE at risk of losing their lives. Period.
You should never support a law that you would not be willing to kill to ensure that folks adhere to it. Are you willing to endorse the state to kill those annoying solicitors? If the answer is no, and I suspect that it would be, then there is likely another solution to resolve your annoyance at them....