I kinda was wondering that it had something to do with anti smoking.
One shop got ticked and started handing out packs of smokes that even teens were taking.
I wish the ATF would at least issue a statement as to why they raided these smoke shops.
I am not a smoker but understand a pack is now over five bucks so maybe it has created a black market and the smoke shops are the venue.
The sign was a bit much but let them vent, if I felt my business was unfairly being raided I would be ticked too.
I believe that technically the Indian reservations are sovereigh nations with their own laws, so if the Indian police arrested these Customs agents and tried them for trespassing, it might put a stop to this stuff. Of course, if I were a sovereign nation of a couple of hundred square miles surrounded by the world's greatest ever super-power, I might think twice about that course of action.
I have to admit it - my sympathies are firmly on the side of the Indians, unless it can really be proven that they're funding terrorists. But when you consider that no one has been convicted, or even charged, then I think it's safe to say that it's all a big crock that the state cooked up as a pretext to harass and steal from the Indians.
Once the Indians agree to "share" some of this money with the state there will be no more raids and no more accusations of helping terrorists.
This is not about not smoking. It is about shutting down all other casino businesses, funneling it to the tribes, who don't pay state taxes which are then given to democrat politicians as campaign contributions. End of story. When we recently had an illegal county-wide smoking ban, it somehow didn't apply to the "sovereign nations." So much for caring about the "poor workers who will be hurt by second-hand smoke!" BS! It is about political control and money. Big shocker.
Maybe ? It has absolutley everything to do with creating the black market.
The cost of a pack of smokes puts buying a pack out of the reach of most smokers. I talked to my doctor the other day and she explained that trying to quit is like trying to quit taking crack. I agree. I have never done crack but have been smoking for years. I quit once and it was the toughest thing in the world for me to do. I haven't had a drink in 12 years, that was easy to do compared to quitting smoking.
Proven fact that most smokers are low income people, especially in new york where everything is expensive. Soon they will be taxing the air that we breath.
The smoking ban in this state has destroyed thousancs of businesses.Look at this link This is just an excuse as far as I'm concerned to get in the door of the reservations, the government cannot force a sovern nation to collect taxes. It would be like us telling Canada or Mexico to collect sales taxes for our bloated government.
Constantly on the search for more revenues, they are shooting themselves in the foot by raising taxes on what they call "sin tax" smookes and booze. This is the root cause of the black market, not the Indians....
Learn how to cut the fat, pork, and staff, stop the spending.