Posted on 03/11/2003 4:42:21 AM PST by chance33_98
Bill Would Limit Smoking by Apartment Dwellers
California smokers may soon have one less place to light up. A new law would make it difficult for apartment dwellers to smoke at home.
Assembly Bill 210 would make it illegal to smoke in any in any common area of a multifamily dwelling, including outdoors. It would also forbid use of tobacco products in any apartment not specifically designated a smoking unit.
If it becomes law, AB 210 would allow residents, landlords or homeowner's associations to sue tenants who allow second-hand smoke to drift beyond their apartments.
The bill's author says that the legislation is necessary because drifting smoke can be both a nuisance and a health hazard. "You can sue someone to force them to turn off their stereo at 2 a.m., but you can't sue someone to force them not to smoke, even though it comes into your apartment," said Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. "There's something wrong with that."
Critics say it's not the government's job to tell people where they can smoke, and call the measure a violation of their rights.
The bill comes up for committee hearings later this spring. Assembly Bill 210 can be read in its entirety by clicking on the link below.
Full Text of Assembly Bill 210
LOL,,great stuff.
I, as a smoker, would be the first to tell someone they were being inconsiderate with thier smoke. I, as a smoker, always check my surroundings before lighting up and ask anyone who may be close enough to be bothered by it if they mind my smoking.
But tell me, does that help me garner respect from the antis? Nope. They would like to see me tossed into the gallows with thieves and various other criminals because I dare pollute the sacred air around them. Heaven forbid! I imagine they must never break wind or eat garlic, for that would surely put them into a coma!!!
Maybe I should demand that the antismokers buy bubbles to live in. You know, like poor "Bubble Guy" on TV.
My demanding that they live in a bubble is as offensive and unreasonable as them demanding I give up my consumption of a perfectly legal product in a well ventilated area!
In all, smokers are geting fed up with being abused. We accepted the no smoking section in restaurants, we accepted the no smoking in office buildings and airplanes, we accepted the complete elimination of smoking in most airports, sports arenas, theatres, stores, eateries, etc. Now, they want us to stop smoking in our own homes!!??
Enough is enough! If your nose is that sensitive where it should determine the lifestyle of other Americans, you SHOULD be placed in a bubble. Preferably one with IDIOT spray painted on the outside.
The ignorance of the smoker as to how bad this smells is the reason smokers and nonsmokers are at opposite ends. This ignorance is the root cause of their inconsiderate behavior.
Yes, and the hyperbole is so thick, you could cut it with a knife:
Add to that mix an elderly person with breathing problems who cannot go outside without breathing someone else's cigarette smoke and painfully coughing their guts out just to go to their mailbox.
Sounds like "...... thousands of innocent children being gunned down every year by ruthless gang-bangers with military assault rifles......."
I have been personally offended by your universal inconsideration of my feelings as a smoker. And I think you stink...in more ways than one.
Can I have a law passed that protects me from your whining and nasty little generalizations of smokers? No. My dislike of your personal behavior does not entitle me to stifle you.
I rest my case.
Why is it that the exact arguments in favor of government control being made by liberals are thought to be "conservative" by these people?
Mr. Smith: Oh yeah, who told you that?
Smoking Police: Mr. Jones who lives upstairs. He said he can smell it. Is that cigarette smoke I smell, Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith: No, that's my tobbaco scented incense I burn as part of a religious ceremony.
Smoking Police: Are you sure Mr. Smith? Do you mind if I come in and have a look around?
Mr. Smith: I certainly do mind.
Smoking Police: I can get a warrant Mr. Smith. Don't make this harder than it has to be.
Mr. Smith: Do what you must. You're not coming in.
Smoking Police: OK, Mr. Smith, have it your way. We'll be back.
Mr. Smith: I'm sure you will.
Smoking Police leave, vowing to be back. Mr. Smith lights a smoke and goes back to watching a John Wayne movie.
One week later
Mr. Smith has just extinguished his last smoke for the night, and gone to bed. He checks to make sure his pistol is loaded and in the night stand where he always keeps it when he sleeps, since this is a pretty rough area of LA in which he lives.
In the mean time, two Smoking Police unmarked squad cars roll up the the aprtment building's entrance very quietly. They must have the element of surprise or Mr. Smith may be able to flush the evidence which these dedicated Smoking Police officers know exists in that aprtment.
Smoking Police Seargent: OK, men, we've been through this hundreds of times, you know what to do. Johnson, you cover the fire escape with Adams. Wells and I are going in the front. We go in at 02:00. Good luck!
Wells and the sarge slowly make their way up the stairs and down the hall to Apt. 2G. When they arrive, they quickly check their watches... 01:59:30.
Sarge: OK Wells, ready? I'll kick the door in, you go in as soon as it opens, with me covering you.
Wells: Got it.
The sarge looks again at his watch, 02:00 on the nose. He plants his large foot against the door near the knob and the door quickly gives way. Wells rushes in, the sarge right behind him.
Wells: THIS IS THE POLICE! EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR HANDS IN THE OPEN!!!
The officers finding the living room empty proceed down the hall to the bedroom, where Mr. Smith, awakening to the racket at the door, has reached into his nightstand for his pistol.
Wells kicks open the bedroom door, but before he can make his announcement the 2nd time, Mr. Smith has fired two shots hitting Wells squarely in the chest knocking him back out of the bedroom. His vest has saved his life this time. However, Mr. Smith is not so lucky as the sarge, right behind Wells at the door, empties his 16 round mag of 9mm into Mr. Smith's bed, killing him almost instantly.
Another day in the trenches for the Smoking Police, making life safer, and smell better, for all of America.
Whoa down there cowboy. You can't have it both ways.
Where is a person more likely to have an ashtray to butt their smoke? At home or outside?
If they can't smoke at home guess where they go. You got it, outside.
So, the result of this insanity will be MORE butts on the sides of roads and sidewalks, washed up on beaches, etc.
Ah yes, unintended consequences.
The stench of tyranny is far worse than any smell coming from cigarettes.
Oh, geez, you're right - the non-smoker should just move out of their home that has become smoke infested, OR, never spend any time at home. Me thinks you haven't been reading all the posts.
And where, pray tell, do you meet these inconsiderate smokers? Can't be in a restaurant, or a shopping mall, or a theater, or a sports arena, or an office building... is it outdoors somewhere? Like a park?
Do they just walk right up to you and just start blowing it in your face? I wonder why anyone would do that? Wierd.
Or wait, don't tell me... it must be in bars? Maybe you should go to a bar that doesn't allow smoking. Oh, what's that you say? They all allow it, and you think it should be banned there too? Why not open your own bar, and ban smoking there yourself. There must be millions of folks that feel just as you do. You'll be rich, for sure!
I'm describing the root cause of the disconnect between two groups. On the one hand there is a group of smokers who are unaware of how offensive they are and on the other is a group who cannot believe how rude the others are.
From this one group thinks the other is acting irrationally and attributes conspiracy theories about control and nazis while the other group looks for reasons to impose a ban.
The cigar smoker knows his smoke is offensive and acts accordingly. The cigarette smoker doesn't know and also acts accordingly.
130Million cigarette butts are picked up on the sides of Texas Highways each year... you trying to suggest that smokers don't have ashtrays in their cars?
Secondly, my point was not where they smoked, but a counter to the claim "Cigarette smokers are generally courteous". Which by the amount of litter they generate certainly puts that at debate. Whether you smoke inside or outside, flicking yout butt in the street is not an act of someone being courteous to those around them... litter is not a courteous act. Regardless of where you are at the time.
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