In its attempt to exploit the murders on Capitol Hill for its anti-teen-dance agenda, the Seattle Times is currently working on a story about the All-Ages Dance Ordinance (AADO.)

It’s frustrating enough that the Seattle Times believes an unprecedented mass murder in a quiet Capitol Hill neighborhood is somehow connected to (and thus a news peg for) a story about the AADO. As everyone from Mayor Nickels to the SPD has made clear: There is no connection between Kyle Huff’s psychotic rampage and the city’s dance rules.

However, the Seattle Times is still pursuing its story.

According to people who have been interviewed for the story (and, by the way, kudos to all the players in Seattle’s music community who decided not to talk to the Seattle Times out of disgust for the paper’s agenda-driven insistence on connecting the murders to public policy), the Seattle Times is set to report that a lot of teen dances aren’t getting AADO licenses.

This is true. But there’s a good reason for that. They aren’t required to.

A little history: The AADO, passed by the city council in 2002, repealed 1985’s Teen Dance Ordinance (TDO). The TDO was bad legislation that—like a lot of bad legislation (ie, the PATRIOT Act)—was born in a fit of hysteria. It was passed in reaction to a problem dance club called the Monastery. The Monastery had a reputation for putting kids in sexual situations with adults. Unfortunately, the TDO was overly broad, and in its attempt to prevent clubs like the Monastery from doing business, it unwittingly upended the local teen music scene by preventing legitimate concerts and shows for young fans. Indeed, in the early ’90s, the SPD started using the TDO to unfairly shut down all-ages punk concerts.

The AADO, drafted with the police and the music community at the table, kept its eye on preventing businesses like the Monastery from springing up, but scaled back the TDO’s overly-broad regulations so it wouldn’t make the same mistake as the TDO and unwittingly unplug the youth music scene.

In so doing, it allows clubs to put on rock shows for underage audiences without getting AADO licenses. It also doesn’t address raves because by definition, raves take place at “non-conforming” venues, and in order for a promoter to put on a rave at a non-conforming venue they need to go to the Fire Dept. and get an assembly permit. Those permits trigger more stringent regulations and oversight than the TDO or AADO—and so raves don’t fall under the AADO.

If, as people who have been interviewed by the Seattle Times contend, the paper is set to do a story that implies there is a connection between Kyle Huff’s psychotic attack and the fact that venues don’t have AADO licenses (because they aren’t required to) it would be a strained piece of agenda-driven demagoguery.

Let’s be clear: if there are venues that should be getting AADO licenses—and they aren’t—those venues should be held accountable for shirking the law. However, they should not be held accountable for Kyle Huff.