Here’s yet another instance where a bad case makes for bad law.

Amy Werry won’t turn 21 until Oct. 15, 2006, but the 19-year-old already knows that is a Sunday.

Should she choose to do so, Werry could hit the bars at midnight that day to celebrate with her first legal sip of alcohol and any other drinks that friends buy her before last call.

“That’s the way most people do it,” she said.

The coming-of-age tradition of young Texans toasting their 21st birthdays from midnight until 2 a.m. could be ending. State lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it illegal to serve people drinks on their 21st birthday until 7 a.m., or until noon on Sundays.

Supporters say the law would deter celebrators from drinking multiple shots of alcohol in a short time, a practice that can be fatal.

“When you start at midnight, you have only until 2 a.m.,” said Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. “The clock is ticking. At least the next day, they won’t be trying to cram” so many drinks into two hours.

I think the real problem here is that the generally-prevailing Puritan attitude towards alcohol in this country (and especially Texas) doesn’t allow for a healthy environment for teaching children how to deal with alcohol when they are old enough to drink.  We don’t put people behind the wheel of a car at a certain age and say, “Here you go, you’re fully legal.”  So why do we expect people to know how to magically handle alcohol at the instant they reach some arbitrarily determined age?

Of course, parents (even in Texas) have the right to allow their children to drink.  Unfortunately, the zero-tolerance ninnies have made it so taboo that many parents are reluctant to allow even moderate consumption.  So what you end up with are a bunch of people who have no good experience with alcohol suddenly having full access to it.  A lot of them are going to do stupid things at first.

Anyhow, this is yet another stupid law that won’t do anything but drive the “problem” underground.  As the young woman in the article states, people will just get drunk at home if they can’t go to bars. 

There isn’t anything quite as uniquely dangerous to liberty as a politician who wants to “raise awareness” or “send a message” to save us from ourselves.