[appalachian_dweller]

((( ping )))

[RonF]

Smoking is a freedom of speech i.e. personal liberty.

There's a non sequitir for you. What logic lies behind this statement?

[newgeezer]

Smoking is a freedom of speech

Sorry, you lost me there. I won't bother reading any further.

But, lest you get the wrong idea, I believe property owners have the right to set whatever rules they want with regard to whether and where smoking is permitted on their property. (On public property, the public decides, either through a ballot initiative or by proxy through their elected officials.)

[LoneSome Journey]

What about the right of others to walk down the street and not be forced to inhale poluted air spewed out by someone with a burning pacifier stuck into their mouth?

[Robert DeLong]

Sorry, as a smoker I cannot buy into this argument at all. Smoking is not a form of speech. However, if you get throat cancer it may restrict or even prohibit your speech.

[trubluolyguy]

If burning a flag is free speech, why NOT smoking?

[SheLion]

[justshutupandtakeit]

If this lunacy is the best the smokers anywhere anytime can come up with get ready to quit. It is amusing to watch desperate flailing about though.

[Ignatz]

Ping to myself

[TOUGH STOUGH]

"If Government regulates the use of private property in such a way as will harm the profitability of a business located on said private property, or the fair market value of the property itself, and by such regulation declare or imply that said property is in fact public, it stands to reason that the government in the position of owing just compensation to the owner of said property."

Exactly! Excellent post. Thank you!

[johnb838]

How can an amendment be unconstitutional? Doesn't it stand on its own as part of the document?

[Raycpa]

I am glad to see work being done on new arguments to stop the smoking bans. The old ones regarding private property just don't work.

[Da Bilge Troll]

Whatever happened to the concept of liberty in this country? When did government become our mommy and daddy and adult citizens become children incapable of governing themselves? These bans are pure fascism.

And I don't even smoke.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Anybody with two bits in their pocket can force their taste in music or lack there of on a room full of their betters.