This is not about how stupid it is to smoke, it is about the right to allow it in a place you own. A place non smokers can not enter if they choose. It is about rights and freedom.

Mineral rights? :shrug:

I thought the Chinese owned all the air.

FAX

Not if it has signs posted warning people smoking is allowed. The non smokers have the right not to enter.

Yo've got to get clearance from Bob Dole's air traffic controllers before entering Bob Dole's airspace. If you don't, Bob Dole may shoot you down, creating an international incident.

Ding, ding, ding!!! We have a WINNNAR!!!

Kudos to you for being rational.

I as a "non-smoker" have a choice whether or not to patronize an establishment that allows smoking. If I do, I do so at my own "peril."

I fully believe that an owner has a right to allow or not allow smoking and the market will decide... Please have the decency to own your stupidity if you think it's your right to impose your will on others. If I think second-hand smoke is a danger I won't go someplace...I won't believe it's my constitutional right to...

It's about the public health and the right to choose. In theory a persons personal liberties are universal right up to the point where they negatively impact upon anothers liberty. Smoking in public is an attack on the non-smokers rights and it's an obvious health hazard.

You've got it backwards. It is the smoker who is imposing his choice/right on another person (the non-smoker). Let's not get this twisted. This debate should be defined as a health issue IMO.

I think if a bar or restaurant owner posts a sign on the outside that says smoking is allowed then smoking should be allowed. If you enter it is an assumption of the risk. Nobody is forcing you to dine, eat or work at the place.

Exactly. Like I wrote earlier, I'd be interested to see what the impact of turning your privately-owned "public place" (as virually all restaurants and bars are considered to be) into a "private club" would be. Would that enable the owner to permit smoking since presumably only "members" that were fully aware of and in agreement with the club's policies (like it's OK to smoke) would be allowed?

TN_Chief was put on the planet to make the rest of us miserable.

It's quite possible.

I think from a practicality standpoint the bar/restaurant would lose a lot of walk up business and it would cripple most of them.

I am not saying smoking should be allowed in PUBLIC, I am talking about a a private business Where the OWNER allows smoking and you have the right not to enter! Sorry for yelling :)

But when you remove that option, your remove the right to choose, no?

The imposition of a preference always infringes on someone's "rights."

The crux of the matter really comes down to how "important" the issue is to you personally. If I value an establishment enough I suppose I'll patronize it regardless of conditions. That is a choice.

I'm not taking this issue to you personally, just seems you've done a good job of illustrating the point of choice.