I wish they'd banned smoking from any place open to the public here in the States years ago.
First, I don't know what state you are from, but this issue is none of the federal govt's business. 10th Amendment.
Maybe then my father and sister would still be alive. Maybe then I could go out to a bar or a pool hall without being assaulted by unwanted and unhealthy tobacco smoke and made ill.
You have NO RIGHT to go to a bar or pool hall that is tobacco free unless the BAR OWNER makes the decision on his PRIVATE PROPERTY. And, your father and sister knew that they could kill themselves by smoking. That was THEIR choice to smoke.
As conservatives you have to realize that your right to the pursuit of happiness ends when it endangers someone else's health - and smoking in public or in the presence of nonsmokers does exactly that.
It's a private property issue. THAT'S the basic issue of conservatives. If I want to allow smoking in a place I own, that's my choice, and none of the GOVERNMENT's business. Period.
Smoking in a private place among other smokers or smoking in the open away from others is the harmless pursuit of your own happiness, but inflicting your unwanted, nasty and unhealthy smoke on other people who don't want anything to do with it and who are physically harmed by it isn't just rude - it's morally wrong. And that is why legislation like this is happening.
First, nonsmokers can walk away and take their business elsewhere. IF enough people do that, the bars etc, will go smoke free. Let the MARKET make that decision, not a bunch of FASCIST THUGS from the PUBLIC HEALTH GESTAPO(same bunch of left wing gun grabbers) that want to ban everything. Second, the legislation isn't to save lives. Anyone that thinks that is an idiot, and that's an undisputable fact from anyone with a BRAIN. It's about CONTROL.
Save your own life and quit smoking now. Had you seen how horribly my father and sister died you would never go near tobacco again in your life.
Most of my family smoked, and I only smoke an occasional cigar. If tobacco smoke bugs me, I walk away. MY CHOICE, and that way, I AM in control, not the govt thugs.
I'm a conservative Republican who would outlaw smoking in publicly-accessed places in a heartbeat.
You can not support more regulation over peoples' lives and be a conservative Republican.
And if you really think that your right to the pursuit of happiness includes that of inflicting unhappiness and bad health onto unwilling others then there is really no point in our even discussing matters because we have no common ground at all.
You are right. I support freedom. You are a big government statist.
You need to realize that tobacco smoke is the number one cause of preventable illness and premature death,
No. Tobacco smoke isn't. THE PEOPLE that smoke it are the cause of their OWN deaths.
and that no one has the right to injure another person's health by polluting the air in places open to the public.
If I own the building, I can do whatever I damn well please. If you don't like it, get out.
Hiding behind the concept of "property rights" just won't cut it; by smoking in publicly accessed places, smokers make those places unusable at worst and unhealthy at best to nonsmokers in general and to those with cardipulmonary problems in particular. It's a form of denial of access.
You have NO RIGHT to access to PRIVATE PROPERTY, and that's the bottom line.
As for the local "smoking lobby" coming after me, well, it's only natural that some smokers, particularly the hardcore nicotine addicts, will be extremely defensive about their smoking and in denial about the negative health impacts that their smoking has on nonsmokers.
Well, I only smoke an occasional cigar. I'm not the smoking lobby. I'm the anti-public health fascist govt thugs lobby that want to take FREEDOM away. You are as bad as any gun grabber.
Eventually smoking will be banned in every place open to the public in America - no matter what the ownership status is - as it is now in almost all government and university buildings and in some states and communities.
So what. I'll light up if I want to anyway. Why? Just to piss off you and your buddy Henry Waxman..:)
The final, total, national ban probably won't happen in our lifetime so I wouldn't get too upset about it.
Unconstitutional. 10th Amendment.
The ashtray is going the way of the spittoon. You may as well get used to it. And there's really no point getting angry about it.
If it goes away by the MARKET, I won't complain. If it is done because of govt thugs, than I will complain because it is unAmerican, anti-freedom, and sets bad precident.