By Graf Shepherd
So there I am, at 6:00 in the a.m., going over the opposition’s proposed jury instructions. Naturally, I am not in a great mood. (This mood was not improved by the opposition’s decision to use a squirrelly, 8-point font.)
I am listening to KMOX and half paying attention, when I hear yet more about this smoking ban that seems to have captured the attention of every big government zealot in Missouri. As a non-smoker and the parent of a child with asthma–heck, as the parent of a child, period–I am not a huge fan of cancer sticks.
But I have to say, there are two great reasons to enthusiastically reject the proposed smoking ban in Missouri and in the individual towns:
First, it’s the economy, stupid. A smoking ban would hurt restaurants, casinos, and bars. Think about it: if a smoking ban would either be neutral or would help these establishments, don’t you think these places would have started smoking bans of their own volition years ago? Sure, it’s possible that Clayton aldermen who have never run a restaurant in their lives are better prepared to explain the subtleties of small-business economics to highly successful restauranteurs.
On the other hand, it’s far more likely that common sense is correct: the economy, which is already faltering, is going to tank if we allow this ban to pass. And anti-ban folks have the neutrally-gatheredstatistics to back it up: Read more…
Related:
KEEP ST. LOUIS FREE! Illinois smoking ban influence on St. Louis casinos
0 responses so far ↓
1 Bob // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:34 pm
After over a year of experience here in Chicago, trying to ban smoking in small neighborhood “shot and beer” bars is pretty useless. Many small bars in my area ignore the ban to keep their customers, neighbors, and local police satisfied. The problems of undesirables being attracted by groups of people outside the bars far outweighs the issue of people peacefully smoking inside a bar, bothering absolutly no one.
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