[TheOtherOne]

It should be the absolute and sole decision of the OWNER!

In a private home fine. In a public business....there are rules. One cannot show porn in a McDonalds or serve alcohol in an ice cream truck. You want total freedom - that is simply not the society we live in. There are rules and regulations - I am not a fan of all or many of them. So long as they are resonable, there is not some huge problem. The owner of a business should be able to decide whatever type of business they want to have - but they need to comply with the rules to have such a business. If they want drinking or smoking or whatever - then they should comply with rules to allow that. Why should smoking not be subject to those same type of rules?

[GWfan]

Because smoking is not against the law for adults. It is not a drug which impairs cognitive thinking. Therefore it does not require special licensing as liquor does.

[CSM]

"In a private home fine. In a public business....there are rules."

Yep, and most of those rules are to protect a customer from dangers that they can not see. Food prep, cleanliness of cooking area, etc. are all out of sight of the customer. Smoking is clearly detectable by the non smoker, therefore their freedom to choose to leave is not infringed upon! I would state that the government rules are wrong in all of the cases. I would love to set up a certification business and run it privately. I could use a rating system and charge a certification fee to inspect and rate a restaurant. That would eliminate the government and allow potential customers to get the same assurances.

The owner of the property should have more rights than any one else on that property. The owner should be able to refuse access to that property to anyone they wish. I think they should refuse access to all Anti's and nanny needers!

If the anti smokers wanted a place to dine and socialize over adult beverages, no one was stopping them from investing in such a place. If a market existed, then they would have been successful. Instead, the government legislated bans are killing a market that existed. All in the name of fairness, they would rather eliminate businesses than invest in competition. This just shows how weak they are in expecting the government to for their convenience. No work done or risk taken, yet they are now able to not be offended anywhere they may want to go!

[Great Dane]

#32... It is not public business, it's private business inviting the public in... it dosen't force anyone.