Just think about the terrorist potential here. Buy a $10 party balloon, let it go near a major airport and they'll panic and shut down the airport. That's a lot of havoc for a couple of bucks.

It's one balloon, Michael. What could it cost, 10 dollars?

Schiphol Airport has large No Balloons signs when you go down to the train station. Aluminum balloons can create havoc on the overhead power lines. It recently shut down the train service for the morning.

And they sell them right in the arrivals hall...

[delayed]

Hast du etwas Zeit für mich?

Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich

Von 99 Luftballons

Auf ihrem Weg zum ... well, El Paso as it turns out.

the English rewrite of course starts:

You and I in a little toyshop

Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got

Set them free at the break of dawn

'til one by one, they were gone...

And rather than see the government have egg on face people (probably a majority here) will vote for politicians who promise all sorts of licenses and regulations on balloons because of it and then in 20yr when I complain and remind them that once upon a time every store used to sell balloons with no KYC BS they'll act like I'm some sort of barbarian, screech, wring their hands, clutch their pearls, etc.

At least then we’d stop throwing away all our helium away!