I say airbags should be optional not mandatory as well as all other government mandated safety equipment. That said if I am in a collision hard enough to deploy the airbags then I really wont care about the reduced value of my car.
With all due deference to the other posters I think airbags are a good thing and I make sure my cars have lots of them. Just like seat belt or helmet use its hard to argue with physics and odds are your odds are better when you are restrained and contained inside a car designed to absorb kinetic energy rather than you absorbing it. Safety measures are not fail proof and at some point the physics will win no matter what. Ask Sonny Bono.
Personally I think you should be able to go down to your dealer and buy a brand new '62 Rambler or Dodge Dart. (Or even a VW air cooler) These cars would sell and people could fix them themselves should they break. It is the safety Nazis from the federal Government that prevents this from happening.
Just look into the specs just for door handles sometime.