Once upon a time, life was pretty quiet in Pennsylvania on Sundays.

This was mostly the result of so-called “blue laws” that prohibited many different types of activity on Sunday so that people could rest and turn their attention to religious observance. The first of the commonwealth’s blue laws was enacted in 1779, and it was said they were designed to prevent “vice and immorality” as well as “unlawful gaming,” and to “restrain disorderly spirits and dissipation.”

It was only in 1978 that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that most blue laws were unenforceable, and in the decades since, Sundays have become more and more like any other day. In fact, the number of hours many retail establishments remain open on Sundays seems to have expanded in recent years – where most would wait to open their doors until noon, some now do so at 11 a.m. or 10 a.m. A few even welcome customers at 9 a.m.

It’s easy to understand why this has happened. Households with both parents working are pressed for time, and sometimes it’s a necessity to hit the stores on a Sunday. And brick-and-mortar retail establishments now have to compete with the 24/7 bazaar that is the internet. For better or worse, a shrinking number of Americans attend church weekly, and Sundays have been given over to other types of secular activities, such as Pittsburgh Steelers games in this region. It makes no sense to stop people from buying and selling and being part of the marketplace on a Sunday.

One of the few lingering restrictions on Sunday commerce in Pennsylvania is the sale of cars. We are one of just 13 states that don’t allow residents to sign the papers and drive off the lot in a new vehicle on a Sunday. State Sen. Marty Flynn, a Lackawanna Democrat, has proposed the law be taken off the books, according to PennLive. Flynn also believes that the mandate that vehicles be inspected annually should be repealed.

There’s really no rational reason to prevent anyone from buying a vehicle on a Sunday. It might be one of the more convenient times in the week for many people. And if a dealership wishes to remain closed on a Sunday, so that they can give their employees a day off, they should be allowed to make that decision on their own.

No question about it, the ability to shop and carry out other types of transactions on a Sunday has certain advantages. But it’s hard not to feel that something has been lost when there is not a day in the week where the pace of life slows, we set aside the busyness that characterizes much of our lives, and we focus on our own well-being, or that of our friends or family.

Blue laws may be obsolete, in some cases laughably so – no one seriously thinks anyone should be prevented from dribbling a basketball in their driveway on a Sunday anymore, or be stopped from mowing the grass. But those blue laws, and the peace and quiet they enforced, were not without their virtues.