House shoots down Sunday liquor sales, Twittersphere groans

By Aaron Rupar Fri., Mar. 30 2012 at 3:02 PM

If you want some drinks to wash down all those Vikings losses, you still have to buy them on Saturday.

Today, a pair of GOP Representatives -- Stephen Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove -- introduced amendments to allow Sunday liquor sales in Minnesota.

Both amendment went down in a ball of flames, with about four times as many nays as yays.

Who are these Minnesotans who don't want the rest of us to have the freedom to drink on the Lord's Day? Whoever they are, they aren't on Twitter.

Some anti-Sunday-sales legislators cited a desire to keep alcoholic family members sober at least one day a week as support for their stance. Others implored Minnesotans to "value church and family times." Still others argued that legalizing Sunday sales would simply spread six days of revenue over seven days while forcing owners of small liquor stores to work an extra day.

But reaction to the amendments' defeat on Twitter was almost universally one of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here's a look at some of the choicest tweets:

@johnkriesel I know what we should do for Sunday liq sales. Let's bring it to the voters via constitutional amendment. Like voter id #mnleg
-- Michael Morris (@Zen2019) March 30, 2012

DFL & GOP legislators need to stop legislating morality (and kowtowing to special interests) and approve Sunday liquor sales. #mnleg #doit
-- Jacob Brown (@jacobob) March 30, 2012

I can't go to the liquor store in MN on Sundays but I can drink at bars. Unreal.
-- John Kriesel (@johnkriesel) March 30, 2012

I am. "@stribrooks: Rep. Gauthier says "nobody's crying for Sunday liquor sales," even in Duluth, with WI liquor stores open next door."
-- David Brauer (@dbrauer) March 30, 2012

Unreal. RT @JohnCroman: Opponents to Sunday liquor sales say that people need to plan ahead and buy on Sat or cross the border. #mnleg
-- John Kriesel (@johnkriesel) March 30, 2012

Maybe someone should introduce a bill to only sell liquor on Thursdays in Mn. Plan Ahead! #mnleg
-- David(@justacoolcat) March 30, 2012

Perhaps folks who spend their time camped out on Twitter just really like to drink. But something tells us that if the legislature took Morris' advice and put the Sunday sales issue to Minnesota voters, we'd soon have more than just our tears and whatever booze is left from the night before to wash down all those Vikings losses.

Tags:

John Kriesel, Minnesota House, Stephen Drazkowski, Sunday liquor sales

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Mn Votur

Plain and simple, the Government says you cannot sell a certain item on a certain day for no particular good reason. if alcohol is really a burden to society, why don't we outlaw it altogether? We don't we outlaw it half the week? What is the point of excluding liquor on one day of the week.

TheBlob

Maybe someone who's more business-minded could help me out with this, but I can't understand why liquor store owners would be concerned about losing revenue by spreading six days of revenue over seven days. The law would only make Sunday sales legal; it wouldn't make them mandatory. If the owners want to be closed Sunday, they can be closed Sunday and not bother with the risk that their sales figures won't be worth the added operating costs.

But I guess I can see that drastic change is pretty scary for business owners, even if it might end up being positive. Maybe the best solution would be to legalize liquor sales in supermarkets (with Sunday sales included) and keep the liquor stores closed on Sundays in order to appease the worried owners (I really do appreciate liquor store owners; they're doing fine work).

In any case, the religious arguments against Sunday sales have no place in the state legislature. Churchgoers in Minneapolis are a minority (and many of them would probably like Sunday liquor sales also), so I'm not sure why they believe they should hold so much sway over laws.

Research

During the football season, stock up on all kinds of beer, build a reputation, sell at 50-100% increase. Then go to jail.

Josh

Are we really that conservative of a state where we cannot have liquor sales on Sunday when most people buy liquor on Fridays and Saturdays anyways? Why Sunday?? Why any day? Don't you think we could use Sunday liquor store tax dollars to help offset government budget costs, etc..????

Mike W.

Right now the only two businesses that by state law cannot be open on Sundays are: off sale liquor stores and car dealerships.

When it comes to on-sale establishments, it is even a bigger joke. The bar in my town of 3000 cannot be open because the people of the city won't vote it in. Yet neighboring cities all have Sunday on-sales.

Oh, and who is the idiot that came up with the 8:00 p.m. closing time in some areas. How stupid. Ten p.m. is bad enough.

Screw the 2:00 a.m. bar closing time. Let the off-sales stay open later so people can take it home and drink there instead of being on the road.

Just my take on it :-)

Take it easy

I'm not anti-alcohol, but can't we all just stay home and enjoy ourselves on a Sunday instead of expecting every business to be open and staffed?

Research

There are plenty of small business locations closed on Sunday that don't sell alcohol. As a business owner nobody should tell me not to be open or not because of their beliefs. That is the opposite of freedom and right to religion.

David Foureyes

We don't expect all to be open, we expect those that would like to be open to be free to do so without government intervention.

green23

"while forcing owners of small liquor stores to work an extra day."

How does *allowing* a store to be open "force" them to be open?

Brad

Large pockets of Minnesota population lives close to states that allow Sunday liquor stores to be open so why is the state government allowing the tax revenue that liquor has to go to neighboring states? Also allowing liquor stores to sell on Sundays does not mean they have to be open.

Jody

I'll tell you why the State won't allow liquor sales on Sundays: It is because the state makes HUGE sums of money on any given Sunday by handing out DWI's because only bars can sell liquor, and unfortunately, a lot of people drive to and from those bars. But.....with the stupid DWI laws in MN, even a poor sap who goes to a bar and has 3 beers during a Vikings game, for example, can blow over the legal limit. I'm not advocating drinking and driving, but my friend is a state Trooper, and he told me that, unlike common belief, the majority of those arrests for DWI do NOT happen on Friday and Saturday nights. The majority of them happen on Sundays, and in particular here in Twin Cities where many people make a "run for the border" when their stash runs out and they have no choice but to drive to Wisconsin. If you have ever had to make a trip over the St. Croix river on a Sunday, there is a reason why MN state troopers are like flies on I-94 and Hwy 36. Huge revenue source.

JonnyBeGood

There is no need for sunday sales - just buy it on saturday!

Brian K

Why not allow people the freedom to buy on any day they choose instead of having the moral police tell them not on Sunday mister?

galamaria

I want the names of the legislators who voted against Sunday liquor sales. CP, you've likely got better connections than us private citizens - can you publish a list of the legislators who voted and what their vote was?

Sambotz7

I live on the border, and WI liquor stores hike up their prices on Sundays on almost everything. In the case of the store nearest me, it averages a 10-20% mark up. It's ridiculous. It's the weekend, not everyone creates an itinerary for relaxing on a warm summer day. A-holes...

Jeff Gobats

I dont drink. But even I shake my head at this. #Fail

MNBeerActivists.com

Clearly ignoring the wishes of consumers. Time to fix this.

Joseph Hensel

Where can we find out who these assholes are so we can be sure to not vote them in again?

JJ Bugs

Sunday sales would increase competition with everyone from liquor and grocery stores, to restaurants and border cities. Time to let the free market play out here, but instead the lobbyist groups win again. Too bad.