[Gabz]

The only sort of smoking ban I would support is one in which the people decide through voter referendum that they would prefer it.

This statement of yours seems to be in conflict with the final sentence of your paragraph:

Restaurants can decide this on their own if market forces dictate as such (and many have).

A voter referendum forcing a smoking ban is really no different than a government entity enacting a ban. It is still someone else dictating to business owners.

The best referendum is the market. People "vote" with their wallets by not patronizing establishments with policies they do not like. And as you correctly point out, many restaurants have already adopted this policy on their own. Why force all to be the same?

[Ditter]

I hear what you are saying Gabz, but most restaurant owners want it both ways. They want smokers and non smokers. They tried to do this by offering sections for each, but they did it badly, satisfying mostly just the smokers. That is how we got to where we are now.