By Ross Dallas
A bill that would ban the possession by and sale of spray paint to those younger than 17 years old in Massachusetts is expected to be referred to a committee next week.
The bill sponsored by Sen. Michael Morrissey, intends to combat graffiti in the commonwealth. It was first filed in 2006 after Quincy City Councilor Brian McNamee brought increased graffiti in Quincy to legislators’ attention.
“Graffiti demoralizes a neighborhood,” McNamee said. “You might as well take a trashcan and just turn it over.”
The bill calls for jail terms and fines for young offenders. It costs the United States $8 billion a year to clean up graffiti, according to the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office.
Community groups have sprung up to combat graffiti in Boston. Anne Swanson, who cochairs the Graffiti NABBers for the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay said preventive graffiti laws are necessary. A neighborhood ordinance in the Back Bay already prevents minors from buying aerosol paint cans.
But Swanson says many graffiti taggers and vandals aren’t teenagers.
“Many of them are in their 20s, pushing 30, and they still seem to have no grasp of what the responsibilities are for living in a democracy,” she says. “They think freedom is freedom to do anything.”
Most taggers are between 12 and 21 years old, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. Sam Shames, 16, from Newton, said banning spray paint for those under 17 would be an arbitrary rule. If people older than 17 are tagging property too, Shames says, the age restriction should be higher.
“It doesn’t make that much sense,” he said.
McNamee said he hopes further spray paint regulations would follow the pending bill if it passes. He said the bill could establish a foothold for further legislation.
“I think you’re going to find that a lot of these offenders are older than you think they are,” he said, “but for starters, we can work on one segment of the population.”
McNamee said Krylon, a spray paint canister sold by Sherwin Williams, is one of the most frequently used products for taggers.
Dan Schreck, who works at Sherwin-Williams in Allston, said the bill wouldn’t create a significant change in sales at his store. He said that if there were suspicion about a teenager buying spray paint at his store, they would be asked to come back with an adult.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever actually sold spray paint to anyone who wasn’t at least 25,” Schreck said.
Though McNamee said the proposed spray paint law wouldn’t wipe out graffiti in the commonwealth, he said action must be taken.
“When you have somebody who does this kind of crime, it runs the neighborhood down,” he said. “It creates and environment of apathy and an environment of neglect.”
(This article was written on March 10, 2009.)