The federal government wants the ability to remotely shut off your car. Not in some dystopian movie. Not in a novel about a future surveillance state. Right now. It’s already written into law, and most Americans have no idea it exists.

These people would put us all in shock collars if they could. Since they can’t — yet — they’re settling for your vehicle.

The so-called HALT Drunk Driving Act, which Congress buried inside infrastructure legislation back in 2021, mandates that every new vehicle sold in America must include a system that monitors the driver and can disable the car if it decides you’re “impaired.” Not a cop. Not a breathalyzer. The car itself decides whether you’re allowed to drive.

Rep. Thomas Massie explained it perfectly: “The car itself will monitor your driving, and if the car thinks that you’re not doing a good job driving, it will disable itself.”

Read that again. YOUR car will monitor YOUR driving and decide whether YOU get to keep going. The government just gave your Honda the authority of a police officer.

(Nothing says “Land of the Free” like your Chevy Tahoe locking you out because you swerved to avoid a pothole.)

Here’s how it works. A camera watches you from the dashboard. The system evaluates your behavior — how you steer, how you brake, whether your eyes are where the algorithm thinks they should be. And if the computer concludes that you’re impaired, it shuts the vehicle down. Doesn’t matter if you’re stone-cold sober. Doesn’t matter if you swerved because a deer jumped in front of you. Doesn’t matter if you’re rushing your kid to the emergency room. The algorithm is judge, jury, and traffic cop.

What could possibly go wrong?

Think about who’s pushing this. The same government that can’t manage a website, can’t secure the border, and can’t balance a checkbook now wants real-time surveillance access to every vehicle in America. They want to know where you’re driving, how you’re driving, and they want a kill switch to stop you whenever they feel like it.

They told us the Patriot Act was about catching terrorists. They told us mass surveillance was about “national security.” They told us vaccine passports were about “public health.” And now they’re telling us a remote kill switch in every car is about drunk driving.

Notice the pattern? Every single expansion of government power comes wrapped in a safety ribbon.

Rep. Chip Roy — one of the few people in Congress who actually reads the bills — just introduced legislation this week to repeal the mandate. Bless that man. He called it exactly what it is: government overreach dressed up as concern for your well-being.

And here’s the part that should make you furious. This wasn’t debated. It wasn’t put to a vote as a standalone bill. They buried it inside a massive infrastructure package that everyone was told was about “roads and bridges.” You know, the way Congress always operates — hide the surveillance state in the potholes bill and hope nobody notices.

Tesla already uses driver-monitoring cameras for its self-driving mode, but that’s voluntary. You opt into it. What Congress did is make it mandatory for every single new vehicle. You don’t get a choice. You don’t get to opt out. You buy a car, you buy a government surveillance device.

The Second Amendment crowd has been fighting for decades to keep the government from tracking gun purchases. We’ve been told over and over that a national gun registry would be tyranny. And we’re right. But while everyone was watching the gun debate, these clowns snuck a vehicle kill switch into law that does something arguably worse — it doesn’t just track you, it can stop you.

Your car. Your property. And the government just gave itself an off switch.

Imagine this technology in the hands of an administration that used the IRS to target conservatives. Imagine it in the hands of a DOJ that raided a former president’s home. Imagine it during the next “emergency” when they decide that certain people shouldn’t be allowed to travel.

If that doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, you haven’t been paying attention.

Chip Roy’s repeal bill needs to pass. Call your congressman. Call your senator. Tell them to kill the kill switch before it kills your freedom to drive your own car down your own street without asking the federal government for permission.

They came for your guns and we said no. Now they’re coming for your car keys. Same answer.