Banning the Sale of Smartphones to Children Under 13?

Some of you read the title and say "wouldn't that be nice". Others would say "Yeah...RIGHT! That will never happen". Then all of us will read what I am about to tell you and say "REALLY? Do we really need an actual law banning the sale of smartphones to children under the age of 13?

There is a group called Parents Against Underage Smartphones and they are collecting signatures to get this on the ballot coming up in 2018. Initiative 29 needs about 300,000 signatures. Colorado officials have already cleared the language of the ballot measure.

How would this "ban of sale" work exactly? According to the Initiative 29 verbiage, like this:

• Retailers won't be allowed to sell a smartphone to anyone under the age of 13. Let's be real here... Does anyone know of a 13 year old that has walked in and bought a $600 Iphone? I Don't. 
• Retailers must ask who the primary user of the phone will be before making the sale.
• The retailer must send in a monthly report to the Dept. of Revenue citing the type of phone sold and the age of the intended user.
• Violators (retailer) are given a written warning the first violation and then can be fined anywhere from $500-$20,000

This honestly seems like a joke to me. Parents are responsible for their children, not phone retailers. Let's get real here and come to terms that Mom can walk in, buy a smartphone for 10 year old Timmy and tell the retailer, it is for her. Hand it off to Timmy and then what are they going to do?

In the land of the free and home of the brave, this would be law is nothing short of asinine. It seems more like a money grab as the first year in affect, funds might be in excess of $380,000 and the sophomore year of the law would rake in well over half a million dollars to the state.

I do not see Initiative 29 making it to the ballot, because honestly, I'd be surprised if this gets even a quarter of the needed signatures required to be put on the ballot for a vote come election time. Why? Because anyone I know that has children under the age of 13 actually parents their children. They give them a certain amount of time on the phone and only after their chores have been done.

Source: KDVR