Can someone explain why this should be illegal?

Question

Suppose I own a bar. It's private property, and I want to allow a perfectly legal activity (smoking). I tell all potential employees that if they work there they will be exposed to second hand smoke, and let them decide whether to continue seeking employment. I put a sign up at the front of the door telling people that smoking is allowed, and if they don't want to be exposed to it then they should go somewhere else. I hire bouncers to keep all minors out, so kids can't be affected by the smoke. In short, I have decided to allow a legal activity within the confines of my own private property, and taken steps to ensure that all employees and patrons are aware before they even set foot in the door that they are choosing to put themselves in that environment. Kids are not allowed. Everybody has the choice, but now it's illegal for the owner AND the patrons to make! Can someone explain why choosing for ourselves how we live is illegal?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070724/ap_on_he_me/smoking_ban;_ylt=AlXxwznIZY3z_ttiz1mi6BOs0NUE

For those saying "apply for an exemption" they don't exist where I live after the passing of this law:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/246643_smoking01.html

And second it has GUTTED quite a number of business owners

http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/09/28/ridiculous-washington-smoking-ban-may-be-scaled-back/

Answer 1

Because when you run a business you are no longer choosing for only yourself. Your employees have to either tolerate your smoking or quit. How about you put a sign up that says "I only hire good looking girls and I pat them on the butt every time I walk by"? Couldn't you make the same argument that "well, they were warned"? Everyone has the right to work in a safe work place.

In reference to the article on the Washington ban: Very old news, no longer true. A couple of weeks after the ban took effect something interesting happened; business not only rebounded, it rebound to a level higher than before the smoking ban. This is attributed to non-smokers now willing to go to bars and other places that were previously for smokers only. Since non-smokers are about 70-80% of the population, they can have a huge impact.

Answer 2

That's what I've been saying for years. Business owners should have the right to let people smoke in their bars for the same reason that home owners should have the right to let people smoke in their houses: private property rights! A bar is not a public place, it just has an open door policy to the public. Ultimately, it's private property and the owner should be able to set the terms within the confines of the law. I don't understand why it's illegal.

Answer 3

Where you lose it is when you open up your private property to the public, thus making it a public place. If someone is drunk in your bar, they can be arrested for "public" intoxication. If you made your bar into a private business, with members, you could allow smoking, since it would then cease to be a public place. And the idea of the law is to allow everyone to go to all public places without being subjected to preventable, deadly substances.

Answer 4

You can try to get permits to have a "Smoking Bar" under the very guidelines you have stated. Let's say its a new type business. If you can have a coffee house, bistro or computer lounge, why can't you have a smoking bar? I think that I'll start one in my community...Good question.

Answer 5

Think of it like this, you have a friend that likes to go to your restaurant and they have friends they invite to your restaurant who don't smoke, well to join their friend they have to set in a smoking environment even though they did not choose to be there, or maybe someone lives close by to your store and wants to be a bar tender there, but doesn't like smoke but cant afford to drive to the next town to work, so they end up working in a smoke filled place when they did not choose too. i know you should be able to have your smoking store but this is how the public sees this, as a health issue, second hand smoke is obviously unhealthy and their doing this across the bar to ensure those who do not choose to be subjected to it do not ever have to, its kinda like when they made us where our set belts, yeah we all hated it at first but as a majority i think we support it now and are better off for it......

Answer 6

It should be legal.... and in some jurisdictions, it is because their anti-smoking laws allow business to have smoking.

Some don't and enforce the non-smoking ban on on licensed businesses open to the public.

Answer 7

Democratic world. We're so busy trying to be politically correct, tell everybody how to live, that we have forgotten we are a free country. Oddly enough, we do have more freedom here than any other country in the world.

Answer 8

well here is the official position from wiki. i agree with the smoking ban. not all business owners are like you, they have had years to do what you are saying, but most chose not to.

Answer 9

simple - your calling it a "bar"

smoking clubs are legal, and they can serve drinks.

That law went into effect in California long before the Federal law did. We now have smoking clubs in California.

Answer 10

I know five people who have died of lung cancer. None of them every smoked and all lived healthy lives. So how do you tell their children that their mommies and daddies dad because someone couldn't go out to a bar without having to smoke?!