Constitutional Right To Turn Tires Into Smoke

Horry County in South Carolina  has decided to make a federal case out of  what they say are obnoxious motorcycle burnout events at biker bar Suck Bang Blow. The lawsuit is now all about the county’s attempts to ban outdoor burnouts at the bar is a violation its patrons’ Constitutional rights.

The bar’s lawsuit says that burnouts are a part of their patron’s right to express “their manliness and macho, as all males are prone and inclined to do to a greater or lesser degree” and says a burnout pit is protected by the First Amendment.

In what must certainly be the most eloquent defense of tire-smoking, attorneys for the bar say they believe “that providing these expressive performances to the public is a beneficial social activity which enhances individuals’ conscious ability to assimilate.”

Yeah…

The burnouts have been a regular feature of bike events at the bar since it opened in 1996, but county officials began cracking down on them last year. The county originally issued a special event permit which limited the burnouts the hours between noon and 9 p.m. and confined them to the rear of the building, but this, the county suddenly laid down some paper which banned burnouts altogether.

A temporary restraining order filed against the county allowed the burnouts to continue, but the long-term future of the events will now be decided by a federal judge. The county says the burnouts are a “public nuisance” and adds that “is expressly authorized by state statute to abate public nuisances.”