Silly Laws, Sung To The Tune of Jingle Bells
Curious reading about the Montgomery County, Maryland, ban on the early sale of Christmas trees. Not the reasons, but the drafting issues. The sale of “Christmas trees” before December 5 (or after December 25) is clearly not allowed under their Zoning Code. But reading their silly code, my first question is what is a Christmas tree? Everything from a scrawny little Charlie Brown tree to the ginormous tree down at the Mall that’s pine or near-pine? What about the little Christmas tree in my snow globe? What if I label my cut pine tree as commemorating Hannukah or Pearl Harbor Day? Can I try to market to a niche audience and offer to sell cut pine trees to people celebrating National Fritters Day on December 2, or would that be infringing on the sacred and probably trademarked tradition of using cut pine trees to commemorate the birth of the Savior?
I guess my point here is why is this any government’s business, period? Is there a growing season where they’re too small to be taken from the wilds, like trout? Do they emit a killer-pollen if cut in the warmer seasons? Or did someone just get pissy about early decorations and pass an irrational and poorly worded law?
Not to exert too much effort defending a silly law, but my first guess would be that this was originally intended as a safety statute: the earlier the tree is cut, the sooner it dries out and the greater a fire hazard it becomes by Christmas Day.