|
Townhall
Smoke
Gets in Your Rights
By Debra J. Saunders
Mar 17, 2013
California
Assemblyman Marc Levine,
D-San Rafael, has introduced a bill to make it illegal for people to
smoke in
their own homes -- if they live in an apartment or a condo or a
multifamily
home. When last I wrote about Levine, he was pushing a statewide law to
require
grocers to charge for bags. Now he's after cigarettes -- but only the
legal
kind. With his new AB 746, Levine is following a trail blazed by New
York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, who pushed a law prohibiting the restaurant sale of
large
sugary drinks, which a New York judge overturned.
One
politician thinks he has the
right to tell New Yorkers what they can put in their stomachs. Another
thinks
he has the right to outlaw Californians smoking in the sanctity of
their own
homes. These two must think they are gods or kings. Or dictators.
They
know what's best for you, so
they feel free to force you to behave -- for your own good.
"I've
got to defend my
children and yours and do what's right to save lives. Obesity kills.
There's no
question it kills," quoth Bloomberg in defense of his erstwhile ban on
Big
Gulps. Never mind that people could purchase two drinks if they wanted
to get around
the law. Why even bother?
I
asked Levine whether he has any
qualms about passing a law that tells people what they cannot do in
their own
homes. Offenders would be subject to a $100 fine.
"When
you think about this
issue, we send our children to school in a smoke-free environment," he
answered. "Our offices are protected by workplace laws, and where we
should feel safest to breathe clean air, in our own homes, is the last
unprotected place from secondhand smoke."
In
other words: No. Because smoke can
leach from one apartment to another and secondhand smoke can kill,
Levine said,
he is standing up for families who don't want smoking neighbors
(whether
nonsmoking families want him to or not).
Levine
did add that his bill would
allow apartment dwellers to smoke in "designated" smoking areas. But
those areas, if they qualified, would be outdoors -- outside one's home…
Read
the rest of the article at
Townhall
|
