Much is being made of the so-called Parents’ Bill of Rights legislation being pushed by Republican lawmakers who say it is needed to prevent government intervention in parenting. Some are disappointed by Sen. Ellen Roberts’ support of this. It’s time, however, to tell these truly perspicacious lawmakers that the bill does not go far enough. It is, after all, parents’ rights vs. public safety.

If it is a parent’s right to decide whether his or her child can go to school packing measles, mumps, rubella or polio, it should also be a parent’s right to say whether that child can go to school packing heat. The parent – not the government or the school – should decide if the Second Amendment stops at the door to algebra II.

If parents can opt out of sex education classes and/or medical care for their children, why can’t they opt out of the driver’s license age requirement for their children? If a parent believes his or her offspring can pull into the flow of traffic at the age of 11 or 8, we not only need thicker phone books, but we also don’t need nanny state intervention enforcing an arbitrary, government dictated age.

Speaking of an arbitrary government dictated age, it should also be left to parents to decide on the appropriate age for drinking, smoking and (in Colorado) “baking” – i.e., getting baked. “Proof? ID? My mom says I don’t need no stinkin’ proof.”

Former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann famously claimed that she was told that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation. It’s a comfort to know that a substantial number of our lawmakers are well protected from the human papillomavirus.

Kevin Devine

Durango