On one point, Glenn Beck and your’s truly can agree: banning dirt bikes meant for kids ages 12 and younger that may contain lead out of fear the kids’ mouths may come into contact with said lead is just nutty.Yup, that’s right. 

According to Brian O’Neill with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

The new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, designed to protect toddlers from the dangers of lead paint, makes no distinction between the toy a tot might lick and the dirt bike an older sibling might ride.

“Two weeks ago,” said Kim Love, controller of West Hills Honda in Moon, “I had to remove $20,000 worth of vehicles from my sales floor because some of the metal alloy components, like valve stems and brake pads, contain lead and aren’t safe for licking.

“You know how those kids love to lick a valve stem.”

And from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune:

A new federal law aimed at protecting children from lead poisoning in toys is weighing heavy on sellers of motorized off-road vehicles in Minnesota and around the country.

Thousands of dirt bikes and mini-ATVs have been pulled from showrooms since the law went into effect last Tuesday because the lead content of such parts as brake handles, tire stems and battery terminals exceeded allowable limits.

“This is crazy,” said Sheri Rosoff, owner of Hitching Post Motorsports, which pulled dozens of motor bikes and hundreds of parts from four locations in the Twin Cities metro area. “This was supposed to be about toys. Nobody’s going to ingest the part of a motorcycle that contains lead.”

From Beck, we have this gem:

If your kid is licking the gears, we should let natural selection work.

But I can take that point further (Ignoring the fact that Beck would probably reject the principle of natural selection). If your kid is licking anything at all on an ATV or dirt bike, it may be time to seek professional council. Also, say some ATVs or dirt bikes contain lead. Is there a greater chance that a kid would lick a gear than, say, get a good whiff from the gas tank or take a sip from the oil tank? Lead isn’t the only dangerous thing on an ATV or dirt bike. Why not ban them altogether for kids 12 and younger? Who knows, but in this case, common sense has fallen far by the wayside. Or, in the words of Tim Patnode, spokesman for American Honda:

We’re hoping that they see … a difference between a children’s necklace and a motor part that has very little chance of being ingested by a child.