At the stroke of 10 p.m., vendors of wine, beer and spirits in the District will stop selling alcohol. Why the change? City officials say they altered the law to eliminate a confusing system of multiple class licenses to make the new regulations easier to enforce. But what this change means is that stores selling alcohol that were once open until midnight will lose money. Law-abiding citizens, including of-age students, will be inconvenienced. And anyone looking for a late-night bottle of their favorite beverage will have to drive to Virginia or Maryland and spend their money – and potential sales tax dollars – there.

Setting the end of liquor sales at 10 p.m. is as arbitrary as setting the legal age to drink alcohol at 21. Although both regulations have reasons behind them, is alcohol more harmful to someone at 10:01 p.m. or on the day before someone’s 21st birthday? If government sets regulations, they should be easy to understand, and such bright-line tests fit the bill. To set an arbitrary date or time to allow a certain behavior, government should show a compelling reason for choosing that date or time. At least with the drinking age, one could argue that a 21-year-old is more mature than someone who is 18.

But for the law restricting the times when store owners can sell alcohol, the District has shown no compelling reason to end sales at 10 p.m. Stores such as the Foggy Bottom Grocery that once sold beer and wine until midnight now lose two hours of brisk business. Before this law took effect, the grocery was the only store in the neighborhood selling alcohol until midnight.

Of course, the old law treated liquor stores unfairly by requiring them to close before grocery and convenience stores. But the more reasonable solution would have been to allow all stores to sell alcohol until midnight.

Arguments asserting that people buying alcohol in a store after 10 p.m. are more likely to drive drunk are silly. The reality is that drunks driving home from bars and clubs are a far bigger problem than someone buying a bottle of vodka or a case of beer and driving home with it in the back seat.

This law is simply another nuisance hoisted upon District residents who obey the law. Someone who wants to purchase a bottle of wine or their choice of lager as the clock nears midnight will simply head across the Potomac, and their sales tax dollars will follow.