by Tom Parsons

Created on: August 21, 2007

It is true that laws in the United States are sometimes obtrusive and arbitrary and every law that is passed does chip away at our freedoms. However, I must agree that the laws that ban smoking in public places are necessary and beneficial.

Of course, it is easy for a non-smoker such as myself to say that. Such laws certainly favor non-smokers over smokers. I do enjoy being able to walk into a store, or a restaurant and not being overcome with the stench of someone else's used smoke.

Generally speaking, I am in favor of laws that restrict our freedoms only if they protect others from our irresponsible behaviors. I support laws that require the use of seat belts, for instance, because studies indicate that seat belts can help a driver prevent an accident as well as protect him or her in an accident. Since accidents regularly harm others, I believe there is a common good realized in requiring the use of seat belts.

I make the same argument for laws restricting the use of cell phones while driving a car. Again, there is an established link between distracted driving and accidents which injure and kill others. It seems to me a common good is secured with such laws.

The same is true of laws that restrict smoking in public places. Many people, myself included, have difficulty breathing in the presence of cigarette smoke. And nothing ruins the taste of a good meal more readily than foul smoke. At the most, a person's health may be effected by smoking in public places, and at the least a person's enjoyment is effected. Either way, there is a common good realized by banning such activity in public places.

I might be inclined to support exemptions to smoking laws for taverns, bars, and clubs where smoking is common. Since I do not frequent such places, this exemption would have no effect on me. But I do frequent restaurants, and the ban on smoking in restaurants here in the city where I live has certainly increased the enjoyment of a meal out for my wife and me.

If the government proposed banning smoking altogether, even in private homes, I could not support such a law. It is only when a smoker is in a place where he or she diminishes the health or the pleasure of others that I believe bans on smoking are right and necessary.

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