Inspired by the King, I decided to post a “Random Law of the Day.” I came across a random website claiming that lawn darts were illegal in Canada. The first thing that struck me was “my… that’s not random… it’s perfectly logical.” I don’t know what coked-up sadistic being thought up the idea of a lethal projectile that you throw up in the air in the direction of your blissfully naïve opponent, but he deserves to be put inside a blimp, and forced to use his awful creation until he plummets to the earth. Well, I did a little research… and I do mean a little. I found a CBC page outlining the history, statistics, and facts about the physics of lawn darts. As it turns out, they were made illegal in the U.S. first, and then in Canada. The cause for the U.S. ban was a single man’s personal crusade, which he started after his daughter was killed by a lawn dart in 1987. He literally went to Washington D.C. and kept pestering people until they started to take notice. I highly recommend you watch the 1989 archive video at the CRC site. It is a great example of how one person actually can make a difference.
Also of personal interest: my grandmother knew one of the little girls who died when a lawn dart pierced her skull. Now I realize why she was so upset when my cousin and I found a set of lawn darts in her attic about 8 years ago.