I would have the very same opinions even if I didn't smoke. This is about personal property rights, rights guaranteed by our Constitution! These are rights I consider to be the most important that we as Americans have. They are being eroded on a regular basis, and those who blindly accept them based on fake and false premises is quite troubling to me. The "Public Health" issue of second-hand smoke is for the most part a straw man set up to push forward these laws and bans based in unsubstantiated and/or outright false data. ..in many ways, it isn't unlike the push to make global warming a primary reason for us all to make drastic changes to our lifestyles, no matter the cost.

I owned a billiards lounge about 25 years ago. It was right around the time frame that the push began for regulations for designated smoking and non-smoking areas in public-access businesses that served food (had a sandwich kitchen at the lounge). I could begrudgingly accept segregation, government imposed and enforced segregation at the time. If the government decides that I must provide areas that are smoke-free for people who don't want it around them, and all it costs me is a sign, I'm cool with that.

However, such bans aren't unlike requiring people to vacate already built homes because some governmental agency found an endangered species on their property at the expense of all of us. This has happened and will continue to happen as long as people allow it to happen. Find a bald eagle's nest in a new housing development, tear down the homes. It happens on public property too. A bridge is washed out by a flood, and the bridge can't be rebuilt because an endangered mouse is suspected to inhabit the area.

You can want and wish for every regulation that comes down the pike that sounds good or places restrictions or bans on things you might not like, wait until it is your ox that is being gored, and you might not like it so much. Accept and champion smoking bans, and guess what's next.... We must all have nanny government tell us what to do at every corner. NOT!