Here’s an excerpt:
… “Heroes” may legally ride around in cars (paid for by us, with money taken by force from us; hence not actually their cars) with windows so deeply tinted it is impossible to see the “hero” within – but in most states, it is an offense for ordinary people to have the windows of their cars (which are actually their property, paid for by themselves ) tinted beyond even slightly.
Because it is important for “heroes” to be able to violate our privacy at will.
They insist on the tint restrictions in order to be able to – effectively – search our vehicles with no legal cause whatsoever, merely by looking inside. Which they demand they be able to do at any time – including when they pull up beside us in traffic.
It is irrelevant that we might not wish them to be able to look inside our vehicles – very much in the same way that most of us would prefer they not examine the contents of our pockets – at least absent the formality of probable cause to suspect a criminal act, which has fallen into desuetude in these times of Keeping Us Safe.
Tinted windows prevent causal thieves from being able to see what we have inside our cars, which is a reasonable and sound idea. Regardless, they are our cars – and window tint or not has nil effect on the “safety” of other drivers, therefore there is no legitimate justification for laws making it an offense to tint them. If this were not so – if tinted windows were a “safety issue” – then tinted opaque “hero” cars are very unsafe indeed.
From Eric Peters Autos, here.