I don't really want to get involved in this discussion, but I feel compelled to correct something I see in your post. You wrote:

the government should have no right to tell the owner(s) what legal activities can take place on their private property

Who do you think dictates what is a legal activity? If a law is passed prohbiting smoking in buildings open to the public, such as a casino, then smoking in such a building is NOT a legal activity. Every activity, murder included, is legal until the government enacts a law declaring that it is not. Smoking in certain buildings is no different. Therefore, your argument becomes irrelevant, or simply incorrect. Since it is not a "legal activit[y]," then your statement is irrelevant to the discussion. Since the New Jersey State government absolutely has the power (and "right") to pass criminal laws, then your statement is just plain false. It is possible that there is a "takings" issue, but that is merely a matter of compensation, and not an issue of whether the government has the right. Where, as here, there is a health matter at issue, and the public is invited onto the properties in question, the States clearly have the right to regulate private behavior.

Michael Siskin