It’s certainly a rarity that market-regulating legislation uniformly helps economic growth. New standards facing Missouri scrap metal trading, however, have the rare distinction of being sensible. Although the law imposes new responsibilities on metal buyers, the parameters of the regulation are reasonable and definite. Only an unfamiliar seller with $50 or more in scrap is subjected to documentation requests. The law’s rigidly defined limits and minimal allowance for subjectivity are praiseworthy.

Aside from being horrendously wasteful, metal theft can affect businesses and homeowners of almost every variety. This new measure may seem especially appropriate to the construction industry, which, in addition to suffering the rising costs of metal, is especially vulnerable to materials theft.

Hopefully, the felony penalty attached to stealing certain metals and the fines associated with buying them will deter dangerous and costly criminal activity. If not, at least police will have a new tool for tracking perpetrators. After all, everyone gets along better when traffic lights don’t go missing.