> Absent government action, there is a thing I would be free to do: buy a car without seatbelts
You are entirely free to buy cars without seatbelts.
It's the manufacturers who are prevented from selling cars without seatbelts, nor headlights below a certain height, nor unsafe chinesium non-DOT-legal tires. Hell, aren't backup cameras required on new cars sold in the US now?
And I'm pretty sure if a manufacturer sold you a car without seat belts, you could buy it, and it would be the manufacturers problem you could force them to correct at no cost.
But you'd be breaking the law driving it around without wearing seat belts, which is the part of all this I take issue with.
You are getting into the weeds a little bit to the point that it's not really the question (or, rather, it would have been a more relevant comment higher up thread, this has sort of diverted to a more generic philosophical discussion largely disconnected to the orginal question).
In point of fact I think you are correct. I believe that any manufacturer _can_ make a car without seat belts, and any person can buy it. You just can't register it with the DMV because it won't be street legal, which is indeed a much more nuanced regulation with, at the very least, an even weaker personal freedom argument than previous.
So the actual regulation as it exists is not exactly what was originally stated in the first comment. I was replying to that comment as stated.
You are entirely free to buy cars without seatbelts.
It's the manufacturers who are prevented from selling cars without seatbelts, nor headlights below a certain height, nor unsafe chinesium non-DOT-legal tires. Hell, aren't backup cameras required on new cars sold in the US now?
And I'm pretty sure if a manufacturer sold you a car without seat belts, you could buy it, and it would be the manufacturers problem you could force them to correct at no cost.
But you'd be breaking the law driving it around without wearing seat belts, which is the part of all this I take issue with.