Christie: No Tanning for Teens

A Smart Policy to Protect Kids? Or More Half-Baked Big Brotherism from Trenton?

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Tanning Bed

Even the Governor doesn’t seem 100% sure.

You may’ve missed this on Monday afternoon, Save Jerseyans, but Governor Chris Christie signed into law A-2142 (S-1172 in the State Senate), legislation prohibiting New Jerseyans under 17 years old from patronizing tanning salon beds; kids under 14 are also banned from purchasing spray tans. Now they’ll have to buy orange face paint to mimic those MTV Jersey Shore losers!

Interestingly, the Governor’s signature was accompanied by a signing statement (something not all-too-common when state legislation is actually enacted) in which he acknowledged how “[c]onfidence in the current laws, rather than a rush to add new and perhaps unnecessary provisions, would have seemed the appropriate legislative responsive.”

 

Agreed, and it would be helpful if the legislature recognized for once that it can’t take the place of bad parenting! Christie nevertheless signed the bill despite his stated reservations “because of the documented and well-understood risks associated with misuse of indoor tanning systems.”

No one is arguing about the effects of UV rays on young skin. Any parent who lets a teen frequent tanning is, in my humble opinion, no less irresponsible than a parent who allowed their teenager to smoke. That should be obvious to anyone! But is that for government to decide?

And wrap your mind around the fact that New Jersey’s doesn’t have an abortion parental notification law… but tanning is off limits? Governor Christie would probably agree with that point. The fact that this doesn’t bother our legislative central planners is disturbing but not surprising.

 

I could expound on this topic all day (you know this).

Let’s hear from you…

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Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8440 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

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