The dumbest new ban in 2014: incandescent light

By Nick Gillespie & Todd Krainin

Every New Year brings a bevy of stupid new nanny state bans.

In Los Angeles supermarket chains can no longer give out free plastic grocery bags made of plastic. From now on, either bring your own or shell out 10 cents per sack.

Illinois – a state so well-run that is faces billions of dollars in unfunded pension obligations – now bans anyone under the age of 18 from going to a tanning salon. Residents also face a $50 fine for flicking a cigarette butt in the street or on the sidewalk too.

Delaware has banned the sale, possession, or eating of shark fins. New York City has banned horse-drawn carriage rides, and Major Leauge Baseball has banned home plate collisions.

The list is long and grim and seemingly endless but the worst nanny state ban going into effect in 2014 is almost surely the federal prohibition on the production of new incandescent light bulbs.