Smoking is a personal battle for many, you won yours, congratulations. Going to a bar filled with smoke doesn't bother me. I didn't mind working with cigar smokers back in the 80's when they could still light up in the office. I wouldn't put this battle in the category of gun control, but it is an important scientific debate. Should we let the anti-smokers get away with lying about the science?
Absolutely not. I'd go further and say we shouldn't let them drag science into the debate, but they always will. It's a civil liberties issue and I wish we could keep it on that plane.
Smoking bans are going to be as successful as the law that spawned speakeasies in the 1920's. Successful at diminishing respect for the law and whittling away at the concept of property rights and increasing the number of criminals.
Alice's Restaurant comes to mind. (Q: What are you in for, kid? A: I'm a litterbug.)
Waste of taxpayer loot, waste of law enforcement officers. Increased power to the nanny state.
Nevertheless, smoking is an unwholesome habit and we have bigger and more urgent battles. Like gun ownership. Governor Rendell is again trying to outlaw guns in Philadelphia.
Let's have that fight. At least we won't be diverted by totalitarians saying, you're an addict and you stink like a gun. ;)