We license the wroooooooong things! Glad somebody's watching this though!

[tannybogus]

In Alabama it is illegal to recommend shades of paint without a license. In Nevada it is illegal to move any large piece of furniture for purposes of design without a license. In fact, hundreds of people have been prosecuted in Alabama and Nevada for practicing "interior design" without a license. Getting a license is no easy task, typically requiring at least 4 years of education and 2 years of apprenticeship. Why do we need licenses laws for interior designers? According to the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) because,

Every decision an interior designer makes in one way or another affects the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

This hardly passes the laugh test. Moreover as Carpenter and Ross point out in an excellent article in Regulation from which I have drawn:

In more than 30 years of advocating for regulation, the ASID and its ilk have yet to identify a single documented incident resulting in harm to anyone from the unlicensed practice of interior design...These laws simply have nothing to do with protecting the public.

Most states do not have license laws for interior designers but the unceasing lobbying efforts of the ASID have expanded such licenses. Fortunately, unlicensed interior designers are fighting back! I love that unlicensed designers in New Hampshire have formed a anti-license league, Live Free and Design. Tuttle Lives!

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/08/designing-monop.html

If you wonder why nobody seems to care. They don't. This stuff is too important.
:sarcasm:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Meanwhile,

anyone can get a marriage license in most jurisdictions, unless, of course, you're gay.

Then, without any licensing, you can reproduce.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Voting repubelican is about as prerverse as I can imagine

but it's still happens, legally.............

[romulusnr]

3. But GUNS are completely safe, unlike PAINT or FURNITURE!

Heck we can even let kids use guns. And we can have lots of guns. We neither need a license for it nor do we need to prove that we know a god damn thing about them.

but PAINT, that shit is dangerous in unskilled hands!

[Edweird]

4. You need a license to sell guns, too. Actually a bunch of 'em.