Posted on 11/08/2012 5:21:17 PM PST by Drango
Legal challenges to indoor smoking bans have failed. But prohibitions on smoking in outdoor areas are churning in the courts~
Arthur Gallagher, an avid outdoor smoker, sued Clayton in 2011, claiming a ban on smoking in city parks it had enacted a year earlier was unconstitutional. He asked the federal courts to recognize smoking as a fundamental right and argued that any law restricting tobacco use deserves the utmost scrutiny from judges.
On Thursday, the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to recognize a right to smoke and held that Clayton had a rational basis to restrict smoking in parks — namely, to preserve and protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.
Gallagher had argued that the ordinance unfairly targeted smokers but failed to address other sources of air pollution, such as smoke from barbeques or exhaust from nearby vehicles. He also argued that no member of the public could be harmed by secondhand smoke outdoors, because it dissipates in the air.
Clayton relied on a number of studies in enacting the law~ indicating “there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke,” ~
“We need not determine whether outdoor secondhand smoke exposure actually causes harm. Because the City reasonably could believe this to be true, the Ordinance survives,” Judge Riley wrote. ~ (One of the few studies found that nonsmokers who visited outdoor restaurants and bars where smoking was allowed had elevated levels of tobacco-related chemicals in the body compared with people at a smoke-free control site.)
“People who smoke are pariahs in polite, sophisticated society, but people in the lower rungs of society smoke all the time,” he said. “There is a class warfare element to this thing that is unattractive, and we’re pushing for liberty.”
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Don't be silly.
Even rabid anti-smokers aren't that stupid.
By a band shell and/or surrounded by other large objects, winds can whip around rather than being “up” or “down.” She smelled smoke, she saw you. Blamed.
That’s your opinion. In my experience the majority of smokers feel they are special and deserve special privileges. And if they don’t get them they become bullies.
I do think that smokers have the right to smoke in their own property and in private businesses and privately owned places where the owners of those private places allow smoking. Property owners should set smoking policy, not any government. The anti-smoking laws are absolutely wrong in that respect and should be changed.
But in public places, smoking laws are no different than any other nuissance law. The question then goes beyond smoking and into the realm of whether or not communities have the right to self-regulate.
An example: in some cities it is illegal to talk on your cell phone and drive, or text and drive ... and in others it is not illegal to do those things. Each community sets its own standards and I don’t think we need a state or federal law for this. Each community sets their own laws for noise, litter, public decorum, speed limits, drinking in public, etc. The same should apply for smoking in public places. If a community want to allow or disallow smoking in public places, the citizens of that community have the right to set their own public policy on this.
Talk about your arrogance and intransigence.
Jerk.
I don't have to see someone smoking to be irritated about it. I can tell instantly if somebody is smoking a cigarette from about 30 feet away, AND IT IS A PHYSICAL IRRITATION TO MY SYSTEM.
I never really expected that to be the case. In fact, I grew up with two parents who were both smokers. But years later, I find - somewhat to my surprise - that cigarette smoke is a very significant, PHYSICAL irritant.
I’m a smoker and I agree with you.
On private property...I have no problem respecting the wishes of the owner...but not the government.
A public place to you means a place that is owned by a government...?
The Federal Rules would apply, say, if Joe sued Moe for the harm caused by Moe’s cigarette smoke. Or if the presence of cigarette smoke were evidence in a criminal case.
It has nothing to do with whether a law banning something needs to first absolutely prove a harm from the something. Not even the USSC will strike a ban for such a failure.
kind of ironic to be a Winston isn’t it :-)
Second-hand smoke is a killer....the problem is....it isn’t 100% effective.
Does beef broth throw off or irritate your stomach as well?
now that was damn funny
Just having a bit of fun with ya Winston......I am sure your condition is a serious one. Forgive me?
As a life-long smoker and former RN...you are both naive and/or so self-centered that you must live under a rock. Crying about second-hand smoke? Get a real issue to whine about. There are so many!
Like how in the hell did the pot head smoker in the White House win a re-eleciton with a majority turnout of the GOP? Once again just so you catch it...BO and his supporters smoke!
Didn’t think so.
I can handle multiple issues at once.
Smoking is a public nuissance no different than any other and my post was about the right of communities to self-regulate on this front. Only smokers think their issue is ‘special’ and demand special rights in the public realm.
You needn’t have identified yourself as a smoker because that is self evident in your name-calling, bullying attitude. It’s a smoker’s ‘tell’.
I have no idea why you think Obama’s smoking habit has anything to do with the election results or that it’s news to me that he is a smoker. What does any of that have to do with this discussion?
Any place that is owned in common and maintained by citizens/taxpayers. Public buildings and their grounds, public streets and sidewalks, public parks, etc. Nuisance laws cover these areas and the people of the community have the right to put in place nuissance laws.
If they don’t have that right it would be an interesting case if it were ever brought to the Supreme Court. For example, does a community have a right to impose laws against public nudity? Noise? Camping in parks? Littering? ... you get the idea, the list is infinite.
I don’t think a private restuarant or business is a public place as it is currently construed by anti-smoking laws. Those laws intentionally misconstrued the English language which is another issue which needs attention.
Then we would have to say no campfires and no grilling in the park.
I simply noted that as a non-smoker, I find cigarette smoke to be a nuisance. It is an irritant, to the extent that even if someone is 20 or 30 feet away, it bothers me.
For that I was advised to “get therapy.” But there’s nothing to get therapy for. It doesn’t bother me mentally. I frankly don’t give a flip whether anybody else smokes or not. It bothers me physically. That’s the case even though I grew up in a smoking household. And I doubt that I am alone in this.
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