Should North Dakota End Mandatory Sunday Closings?
A North Dakota blue law, which once required most businesses remain closed on Sundays but has since been revised to allow most businesses to open after noon that day, is making headlines in the state thanks to an influx of new citizens (thanks, oil boom!) who aren’t used to the law.
Now some are wondering if it isn’t time to be rid of the law altogether.
To be certain, not everyone in the business world would be happy if we did get rid of the law. I spoke with one retailer several years ago who told me that their business opposed changing the law because their business didn’t make money on Sundays. They opened because their competitors opened, but it was a break-even proposition for them at best.
Be that as it may, I still think the decision needs to be up to those in the private sector. The law shouldn’t impose such decisions on businesses, and most certainly it shouldn’t be imposed when the motivation is religious.
If observers of the traditional Sunday Sabbath want to refrain from commerce that’s their choices. But others shouldn’t be forced to make that choice, nor should businesses be forced to close (or forced to be open, for that matter).
It’s time to change the law and let people decide for themselves.
Tags: North Dakota News, Religion, sunday closings
