Although I am guilty of it, smoking is most certainly not good for you. I don't smoke around my kids, nor in a car with other nonsmokers in it. If I wish to shorten my lifespan, that is my choice. But these choices should be mine to make, not others. I do not impose my habit on others, and I don't expect others to impose laws regarding this issue on me.
I am neutral on the subject of choice. If a bar/resturant owner wants to prohibit this activity, fine, its his choice. If it becomes a crime to smoke, that is a different story. It would only hold true to impose a similar crime for anyone who would degrade air quality, via cigarettes or other means.
If I live next to that same resturant, I think it would only be fair to impose laws that prohibit any air pollution to emminate from that establishment. No greassy fryer smell, no burning BBQ smell, no degredation of air quality period. The same should then hold true for something so simple as lawn mowers that smokers/nonsmokers use alike. They produce emissions 50-100 times greater than autos, let alone cigarettes. Shall we make it a crime to use these?? Shall I go to jail if my kids are cutting grass for some spare ching?? Point is, where does the government stop on regulating our activities. Regulation cannot just be for the convinient items such as smoking, if it going to be imposed, impose it for the inconvenient items such as living in Los Angeles. In the short time I lived there, I felt like I was smoking just by breathing the air.
As far as the illegality of putting children at risk, I'm all for it, but in context. It is just plain common sense not to put your children at risk. Lets hope, if you have children, you have common sense. Living in general has risk associated with it. However, if parents are going to jail for smoking around children, they should also be going to jail for letting their become obese (heart disease & diabetes). Point is, I'm sick of majority and governmental convenience on these issues, and smoking is an easy target.
Maybe more time should be spent on real issues. We can put a man on the moon, but cant find alternatives to fossil fuels?? BullS**t. It all goes back to the convinence of the issue. An alternative would tear apart a hugh chunk of the economic infrastructure, yet this is the largest pollution mechanism and puts childrens, or for that matter, all of our health at risk. Where would those in the fossil fuel industry get jobs?? What would happen when Exxon stock = Enron stock??
Sad but true, the economic masters who run this country will have all of us sheep distracted from real issues and fighting over smoking=illegal, while they control our government, s**t in our water, and blow toxins into our air.