Stogie Commentary: Smoking Ban Lunacy

We often rail against smoking bans via abstract concepts like liberty, personal responsibility, property rights, and freedom, but sometimes an anecdote does an even better job of highlighting the absurdity of such Draconian laws.

I’m writing to you from California, home of one of the first statewide smoking bans for bars and restaurants. During a visit to one of the Golden State’s many bars, a friend lit up a cigarette in violation of the ban.

All the other patrons (there were only three not in our party) were fine with her smoking. But when the bartender (the only employee at the time) saw her smoking he ran over, grabbed the cigarette, and put it outside.

Did he not want to be exposed to second hand smoke or was he trying to protect the other patrons (all of whom approved of the smoking in their presence) from the cigarette smoke? No, that was not his objection at all.

When I asked him later he said he didn’t mind the smoking, but that he was scared if the police saw someone smoking in the bar he would get a $6,000 fine.

So there you have it. Every single person in the bar – all adults over 21 – consented to the smoking. Only the bartender objected, but only because he was scared of the government bursting though the door.Can there be any justification for police handing out excessive fines when there is no one to protect?

Of course not. But in California, and the many states and cities with senseless smoking bans, this type of scene plays out everyday. And when you see it firsthand it reminds you that the harm done by smoking bans isn’t solely abstract.

–Patrick S

Tags: Cigars